Chargepoint operator Instavolt has said thieves hunting for scrap metal have attacked 45 EV hubs, damaging 129 chargers and stealing a total of 258 cables in West and South Yorkshire in little over a year.
The firm has put more than £1m into tacking the problem, fitting armoured cable guards to protect leads, and treating “the vast majority” with forensic SmartWater, which is invisible to the naked eye but leaves traceable elements on skin and clothing, allowing perpetrators to be identified when they are fluoresced with ultraviolet light.
Instavolt’s chief executive, Delvin Lane, told the BBC the past year has been “quite a challenging time” for chargepoint operators, and that while the company replaces stolen cables “within hours”, they cost around £1,000 each to reinstate, despite the copper they contain only having a scrap value of £20 to £25.
Lane added that while the measures the firm is deploying don’t prevent cable theft, “they mean we can work in real time with the local constabularies and direct the police to where those cables are”. He has previously called on chargepoints to be classified as Critical Infrastructure, which would afford the issue of cable theft greater resources, including those of MI5.
