EV chargers being targeted by thieves...

EV chargers being targeted by thieves...

Author
Discussion

mclwanB

Original Poster:

609 posts

250 months

Sunday 16th April 2023
quotequote all
Just having had one installed just read this. I think though being connected to power would mean people trying this would make a deadly error unless they broke in and turned off the circuit first?

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/technology/resi...

Mr Squarekins

1,148 posts

67 months

Sunday 16th April 2023
quotequote all
Surely the thieves just wear big rubber gauntlet gloves link the guys who work on live wires do?

I was chatting to guys fixing a cable at the end of my driveway and asked if I could watch. All done with the power still on, just wearing big gloves.

TheDeuce

24,249 posts

71 months

Sunday 16th April 2023
quotequote all
It sounds like some thieves targeted a new build estate with mostly empty houses. Smart move by the tea leafs but not exactly the start of a new wave of crime...

As ever, the quickest and easiest thing to swipe that's worth a few quid and you can escape with very quickly is a bike. No risk of electrocution or getting caught close up with a video doorbell - just need some discrete bolt cutters and a bike in a crowded place secured with a cheap lock... Car chargers are never going to be generally easy pickings compared to a bike and a few other things..

raspy

1,732 posts

99 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
It sounds like some thieves targeted a new build estate with mostly empty houses. Smart move by the tea leafs but not exactly the start of a new wave of crime...

As ever, the quickest and easiest thing to swipe that's worth a few quid and you can escape with very quickly is a bike. No risk of electrocution or getting caught close up with a video doorbell - just need some discrete bolt cutters and a bike in a crowded place secured with a cheap lock... Car chargers are never going to be generally easy pickings compared to a bike and a few other things..
Yes. It's a scary headline because the article fails to provide information on the rate of these thefts, i.e. out of all the homes in this country with EV chargers, how many charging units get stolen every day? Nobody knows because nobody collects that information.

ashenfie

792 posts

51 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
I would guess they simply short circuit deliberately to cause the circuit to trip and then simply remove.

Sheepshanks

34,203 posts

124 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
It sounds like some thieves targeted a new build estate with mostly empty houses. Smart move by the tea leafs but not exactly the start of a new wave of crime....
I wouldn't be surprised if it's people working on the site. Some of the pictures have draw cords in place so it looks like the chargers haven't been fitted yet, rather than nicked.

And yes, the RCD will trip at the slightest thing so no danger even if they are being nicked and are live.

theboss

7,074 posts

224 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
Our friends seem to have no qualms about ripping LV transformers out with a JCB or going after rail related copper, or scaling a church roof at much greater risk so am fairly sure they aren't afraid of EV chargers from a health and safety perspective.

TheDeuce

24,249 posts

71 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
theboss said:
Our friends seem to have no qualms about ripping LV transformers out with a JCB or going after rail related copper, or scaling a church roof at much greater risk so am fairly sure they aren't afraid of EV chargers from a health and safety perspective.
Still, very limited value and the risk is the fact you have to go upto the house itself, along with the ever increasing risk of video surveillance, as you break out the tools to remove the charger in tact for resale.

And who do you sell it too? Perhaps a dodgy installer if it's in 'new' condition. But most installers wouldn't touch a charger unless it was one they liked to install and sell - likewise most customers will go with whatever charger their installer suggests I expect. Lastly, once installed most chargers require registering with the app which requires their serial number... So any stolen charger could prove to be a dead duck.

As I said above, if you fancy a career as a thief, it'll be longer lived if you can find things to swipe with immediate high resale value that can be taken within seconds.

Road2Ruin

5,386 posts

221 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
Still, very limited value and the risk is the fact you have to go upto the house itself, along with the ever increasing risk of video surveillance, as you break out the tools to remove the charger in tact for resale.

And who do you sell it too? Perhaps a dodgy installer if it's in 'new' condition. But most installers wouldn't touch a charger unless it was one they liked to install and sell - likewise most customers will go with whatever charger their installer suggests I expect. Lastly, once installed most chargers require registering with the app which requires their serial number... So any stolen charger could prove to be a dead duck.

As I said above, if you fancy a career as a thief, it'll be longer lived if you can find things to swipe with immediate high resale value that can be taken within seconds.
Our's has serial number registered to our house. So if it were stolen we would know where it is if someone else tries to register it. I am sure most chargers would have a similar system...

TheDeuce

24,249 posts

71 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
Road2Ruin said:
TheDeuce said:
Still, very limited value and the risk is the fact you have to go upto the house itself, along with the ever increasing risk of video surveillance, as you break out the tools to remove the charger in tact for resale.

And who do you sell it too? Perhaps a dodgy installer if it's in 'new' condition. But most installers wouldn't touch a charger unless it was one they liked to install and sell - likewise most customers will go with whatever charger their installer suggests I expect. Lastly, once installed most chargers require registering with the app which requires their serial number... So any stolen charger could prove to be a dead duck.

As I said above, if you fancy a career as a thief, it'll be longer lived if you can find things to swipe with immediate high resale value that can be taken within seconds.
Our's has serial number registered to our house. So if it were stolen we would know where it is if someone else tries to register it. I am sure most chargers would have a similar system...
Exactly.

I'm sure like everything else some will get swiped, particularly if brand new in an unsold house so not registered...

But mostly, it's just not all that attractive to a thief. It's the also the same everytime anything new hits the market, there are fearful noises made in the media about it being stolen... Mostly it's all BS. A thread a while back focused on an article about charger cable theft - yea, it can happen... But it plainly hasn't become a frequent enough occurrence to give much of a toss about.

The fact is that CCTV is everywhere now and petty/minor crime of every manner is reducing - and those that are exposed are plastered all over local social media groups. It's not the career it used to be I'm sure.

You can't even walk down a street these days without a dozen ring doorbells silently recording your movements!

Olivera

7,560 posts

244 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
The fact is that CCTV is everywhere now and petty/minor crime of every manner is reducing - and those that are exposed are plastered all over local social media groups. It's not the career it used to be I'm sure.

You can't even walk down a street these days without a dozen ring doorbells silently recording your movements!
Um, have you missed the year-on-year increases in catalytic converter and car theft? CCTV is an irrelevance to the perpetrators.

croyde

23,627 posts

235 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
TheDeuce said:
Exactly.

I'm sure like everything else some will get swiped, particularly if brand new in an unsold house so not registered...

But mostly, it's just not all that attractive to a thief. It's the also the same everytime anything new hits the market, there are fearful noises made in the media about it being stolen... Mostly it's all BS. A thread a while back focused on an article about charger cable theft - yea, it can happen... But it plainly hasn't become a frequent enough occurrence to give much of a toss about.

The fact is that CCTV is everywhere now and petty/minor crime of every manner is reducing - and those that are exposed are plastered all over local social media groups. It's not the career it used to be I'm sure.

You can't even walk down a street these days without a dozen ring doorbells silently recording your movements!
I was going to say about those cables, aren't they around £200. See them out everywhere now, surely it would only take seconds to pilfer.

I don't own an EV so I don't know.

Road2Ruin

5,386 posts

221 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
croyde said:
I was going to say about those cables, aren't they around £200. See them out everywhere now, surely it would only take seconds to pilfer.

I don't own an EV so I don't know.
They will either be tethered or locked into the charger or car, so not easily stolen.

fatjon

2,298 posts

218 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
Road2Ruin said:
Our's has serial number registered to our house. So if it were stolen we would know where it is if someone else tries to register it. I am sure most chargers would have a similar system...
And you think anyone would give a damn when you reported it? You’d get a crime number at best.

M4cruiser

3,991 posts

155 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
fatjon said:
And you think anyone would give a damn when you reported it? You’d get a crime number at best.
The police can't do anything, all the leads have gone ...
wink

TheDeuce

24,249 posts

71 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
fatjon said:
Road2Ruin said:
Our's has serial number registered to our house. So if it were stolen we would know where it is if someone else tries to register it. I am sure most chargers would have a similar system...
And you think anyone would give a damn when you reported it? You’d get a crime number at best.
You don't get it.

The person lifting the charger has to sell it on asap - the person buying it will care that it's a registered device, therefore potentially worthless or worse, traceable.

Connected/identifiable tech is generally worth less than the risk in dealing in it.

TheDeuce

24,249 posts

71 months

Monday 17th April 2023
quotequote all
Olivera said:
TheDeuce said:
The fact is that CCTV is everywhere now and petty/minor crime of every manner is reducing - and those that are exposed are plastered all over local social media groups. It's not the career it used to be I'm sure.

You can't even walk down a street these days without a dozen ring doorbells silently recording your movements!
Um, have you missed the year-on-year increases in catalytic converter and car theft? CCTV is an irrelevance to the perpetrators.
Cars are parked in dark places often enough, easy to take a cat. A car charger is almost always installed close to a person's front door.

CCTV isn't irrelevant, it's just part of the overall risk calculation.

Would you rather steal a cat from a car you know is in an unmonitored corner of an NCP or a charger from a random persons house with no idea if there is a camera? Or in fact no idea how tricky the charger might prove to be to remove without materially damaging it...