Copper thieves target electric car chargers
InstaVolt, one of Britain's biggest charging networks, said over 700 stations had been targeted in a wave that it has linked to organised crime. Incidents have risen from 140 a year ago.
The company has been forced to develop an anti-theft electric charger in an attempt to combat the crime wave. Bosses have said the spate of outages has dented consumer confidence in charging stations, affecting electric car uptake.
Delvin Lane, InstaVolt's chief executive, said that gangs had been targeting stations in Birmingham and South Yorkshire and that cable thefts had become an 'industry-wide' problem.
He said that while there was only £20-£25 worth of copper in a charging cable, it cost the company around £1,000 to repair each station.
Thieves have been targeting copper after the price of the metal surged near all-time highs, triggered by companies stockpiling it ahead of new tariffs from Donald Trump.
Eurostar services were disrupted for two days last month because of copper cable theft. Reports also suggest that wind farms are similarly being targeted by thieves, who typically sell the copper cables for scrap value.
InstaVolt, which has the UK's biggest rapid charging network after Tesla's, has developed a 'cable shield' to protect its copper. It is made up of a Kevlar sheath booby-trapped with 'smart water' that allows police to identify criminals.
Mr Lane said it had led to a rapid fall in thefts involving criminals attempting to steal cables using circular saws and hacksaws, although some had resorted to using hydraulic presses to acquire the cables.
'Will it stop it? No. Will it deter and make it more difficult? Absolutely, yes,' Mr Lane said. He said that the company had installed around 250 of its new cable guards, with only one cable successfully cut after having the shield put in place. The shield will be made available to other charging companies in the coming months.
Security guards hired
InstaVolt has also hired security guards at its stations and installed trackers in its cables, but says police have not investigated the crimes.
Mr Lane said the company was pushing the Government to classify chargers as critical infrastructure, which would give police more resources to investigate.
Up to one in 25 chargers around the UK are estimated to be offline at any one time, which affects confidence in motorists' ability to refuel as ministers attempt to boost demand for electric cars.
Figures on Friday from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed that electric car sales have jumped by 34.6pc in the first half of this year and made up 21.6pc of all new car sales, compared to 16.6pc in the same period a year ago.
Data from research company New AutoMotive said that sales of Teslas grew by 12pc in June, helped by the launch of a new Model Y vehicle.
InstaVolt, which is owned by investment firm EQT Infrastructure, grew sales by 48pc last year to £50m and narrowed losses to £8.5m.
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