Sabotage of EV charging
Discussion
Walking around my local estate I am seeing more and more EV’s plugged in for overnight charge.
One thing I have always wondered, what happens if the local youths find it amusing to simply unplug the charger, the owner gets up in the morning and is stranded with a dead car!
Can this happen or is the charging plug ‘locked in’ somehow?
One thing I have always wondered, what happens if the local youths find it amusing to simply unplug the charger, the owner gets up in the morning and is stranded with a dead car!
Can this happen or is the charging plug ‘locked in’ somehow?
PushedDover said:
Or piepeople deciding to cut the cables to rob for the copper.
A work colleague of mine was in Lagos back in the late 1970s and it was common to have power outages and also common for copper cables to be stolen during these outages. Less common, but not infrequent, was for a copper thief to be at work up a pole when the power came back on... Cue: smoking corpse falling to the ground. I wouldn't cut through a hefty mains cable known to be live!This is no more of a problem than people steeling fuel or cats from parked ICE's
Some people are idiots, they will vandalise things for fun. So yes, some EVs on charge will get vandilised, in the way that cars gets key'd, tyres slashed, or glass broken. Is it a big problem, no because most people aren't see you next tuesday's..........
Some people are idiots, they will vandalise things for fun. So yes, some EVs on charge will get vandilised, in the way that cars gets key'd, tyres slashed, or glass broken. Is it a big problem, no because most people aren't see you next tuesday's..........
We hired a Tesla chauffeur for an airport transfer and the chap told me a story.
He was charging in a car park in the middle of the night , as he had another pick up he was cleaning out the car and when outside it two homeless blokes approached him and tried to mug him - he legged it and luckily locked the car as he did so .
Whilst waiting for the police to arrive he saw on the app the charging had been interrupted so feared the car was stoved in - luckily for him the charger end of the cable broke before the car end!
He was charging in a car park in the middle of the night , as he had another pick up he was cleaning out the car and when outside it two homeless blokes approached him and tried to mug him - he legged it and luckily locked the car as he did so .
Whilst waiting for the police to arrive he saw on the app the charging had been interrupted so feared the car was stoved in - luckily for him the charger end of the cable broke before the car end!
Lots of speculation about what thieves and vandals 'could' do... But I've never heard of any actual examples so far, so I think it's just not a problem. As pointed out, it's not easy to disconnect the power to the car as the lead is locked both ends. It's also not really worth the risk of attempting to steal for copper, it's not enough copper to justify the multiple risks taken.
If a person really wanted to mess with a car and make a few quid at the same time, it would surely be easier and safer break the lock on a fuel cap door and siphon the fuel out.
If a person really wanted to mess with a car and make a few quid at the same time, it would surely be easier and safer break the lock on a fuel cap door and siphon the fuel out.
motco said:
PushedDover said:
Or piepeople deciding to cut the cables to rob for the copper.
A work colleague of mine was in Lagos back in the late 1970s and it was common to have power outages and also common for copper cables to be stolen during these outages. Less common, but not infrequent, was for a copper thief to be at work up a pole when the power came back on... Cue: smoking corpse falling to the ground. I wouldn't cut through a hefty mains cable known to be live!TheDeuce said:
Frimley111R said:
For most home chargers the cable doesn't lock in the charger, just the car. But in 5 years of being in the EV industry I have to say I've never heard of it happening.
Really? I thought they all locked both ends. Maybe it just happens that both our chargers do.Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff