Copper Theft: Why thieves are targeting EV charging stations instead of cars in the US

Thieves in the US are targeting electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, but not in the way one might expect. Instead of the vehicles themselves, criminals are focused on stealing the copper cables that power these stations, according to Drive.com.
According to Automotive News, there has been a notable surge in cable thefts from EV charging stations, with approximately 130 charging cables belonging to Electrify America stolen between January and May 2024.This marks a huge increase compared to the 125 cables stolen throughout all of 2023.

The states with the highest number of stolen cables include Washington, Nevada, and California, with Washington alone reporting 89 stolen cables in the first half of 2024. Despite the rising price of copper—rising from $3.80 to $4.50 per pound from July 2023 to June 2024—experts suggest that the thefts may not be financially worthwhile for the thieves.
Travis Allan, chief legal and public affairs officer at Flo EV Charging, explained the futility of these thefts. “It is completely Sisyphean to try to get money out of coated, small wires,” Allan told Automotive News. “A standard Level 2 charging station with a 25-foot cable has about five pounds of copper. The copper is encased in serious insulation, so you don’t actually get raw copper”, as per Drive.com.
In practice, the thieves could potentially earn up to $22 per cable. However, the value of the stolen copper is significantly reduced due to the extensive stripping required to extract it, with estimates suggesting a value of $5-$7 per cable.

While this issue is prominent in the US, it remains relatively rare in Australia. Rob Asselman, head of marketing at Chargefox, the country’s largest public EV charging station provider, reported that copper theft is not a significant problem in Australia. “Copper theft from charging stations in Australia is exceedingly rare. I’m not aware of a single case of it occurring on chargers hosted on the Chargefox platform,” Asselman told Drive.
Instead, Australia faces more common issues like vandalism. “The far more common issue is… senseless vandalism where chargers are inoperable due to the type of deliberate, senseless damage that happens to other public infrastructure and facilities,” Asselman added.
Despite the rarity of copper theft from EV chargers in Australia, copper theft is still an issue in other contexts. A previous report by ABC highlighted a case where three Sydney contractors were charged and arrested for allegedly stealing 300 tons of copper wiring, with a resale value of approximately $3.5 million.