A series of Freedom of Information requests sent out to the UK’s police forces has revealed over 200 instances of cables being stolen from EV chargers, with thieves hacking the leads away to sell the metal they contain for scrap.
The research saw over 30 of the UK’s 45 police forces sent FOI requests by chargepoint provider Allego, Around 40% of constabularies responded that they do not collate data in a specific enough manner to share relevant information, prompting Allego to warn the figures it uncovered represent “the tip of the iceberg”.
Nottingham and South Yorkshire police reported the most cable-theft incidents, logging over 100 cases of chargepoint vandalism since 2022.
Chargepoint firms have been battling against cable theft for some time now, with each cable costing £1,000 or so to replace, despite the copper they contain only having a scrap value of £25 or so.
Chargepoint firms have deployed a number of countermeasures as they attempt to stem the tide, kitting hubs out with CCTV and fitting GPS trackers and forensic ‘smartwater’ to leads.
Paz Sharma, Allego’s managing director, warns damaged chargers dented consumer confidence in EV charging, commenting: “While we are far from crisis mode, this research is a warning sign that action needs to be taken to bring EV criminals to book.
“It’s not about the £25 scrap metal value or even the cost of replacing damaged chargers which runs into thousands of pounds – it’s about giving the nation the best chance of securing its clean transport future.”
