Rick Wilmer spends most of his work days at the office. But every so often, the chief executive officer of ChargePoint Holdings Inc. will make his way to the company’s laboratory in San Jose, where he dons safety glasses and wields an array of saws and shears against“It’s all over the country,” Wilmer says. “The types of stuff we’ve seen happen is just horrifying in terms of the way they go about it and how frequently it happens.”ChargePoint isn’t alone.
Vandalism is “front and center for us and has been really since the start of the year,” says Anthony Lambkin, vice president of operations at Electrify America, which manages about 1,000 charging stations in North America. In 2024 so far, vandals have cut 215 of the company’s cords, up from 79 in the year-earlier period.
The profit motive is reflected in the nature of the vandalism, which is often more organized than opportunist. Groups of thieves will cut every cord in a station, taking it offline entirely. Electrify America has also seen copper wiring mined from its charging units, and from underground conduits. EVgo Inc., which operates nearly 1,000 US stations, has security footage of perpetrators wearing uniforms to make themselves look like utility workers or technicians.
“The financial reward hardly justifies the risk and effort involved,” says Travis Allan, chief legal and public affairs officer at FLO.For charging companies, the theft can add up quickly: Level 2 cords cost about $700 apiece to replace, while fast-charging conduits can reach $4,000. Most charger operators are working on technological solutions to minimize those costs, including automated surveillance.
ChargePoint is leaning on drivers as its first line of defense. Last month, the company’s app began prompting users to flag busted stations, asking them to categorize the problem and submit a photo. Wilmer says the update will help the company identify and fix vandalized chargers more quickly, ideally in less than a day.California adds 24,000 EV charging stations in the first half of 2024