The chief executive of the UK’s leading chargepoint firm has said the government should classify public chargers as “critical infrastructure” to tackle the organised criminals targeting cables for their scrap metal.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Instavolt’s chief executive officer, Delvin Lane, said that while each EV cable only contains £20-£25 worth of copper, chargepoint firms are having to spend around £1,000 on repairs after every theft. Many incidents are thought to be the work of organised criminals, and despite the issue being “industry wide”, Delvin says police have so far failed to investigate thefts, echoing trends experienced by forecourt operators who report drive-offs.
Lane wants the government to classify EV chargepoints as critical infrastructure to help tackle the issue. Food, energy and transport are examples of sectors classified as being part of the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure, a designation that brings with it additional resources, including resources from MI5’s National Protective Security Authority.
For now, Instavolt is fitting protective shields and trackers to its cables. The shields are constructed from tough-to-cut Kevlar, making them harder to steal in the first place, and are also dosed with forensic, ultraviolet ‘smart water’, tying thieves to the scene of the crime.
Around 250 ‘CableGuards’ have been installed at Instavolt chargers so far, and while Lane says they won’t put a stop to the problem, they “absolutely” act as a deterrent and make cable theft more difficult.
