Minneapolis and St. Paul together are building out a public EV Hotspot charging network that, when complete, will include about 70 hubs between the two cities where drivers can recharge their batteries. The hubs are outfitted with Level 2 chargers, offering faster charging times than a standard plug-in at home. As they’ve come online, they have increasingly become a target for thieves.
Officials in Minneapolis say 63 cables have been cut or removed from EV Hotspot chargers since the city started installing its public charging spots. Some of the damaged and stolen cords have been replaced only to be hit again, city spokeswoman Sarah McKenzie said.
I would have guessed it was copper thieves, but copper thieves would probably have taken the nice high gauge wires in the cord too rather than just the head.
My first guess was right wing “protesters”. They really don’t like electric vehicles or the people that drive them.
But they’re first in line to rim Elon’s asshole?
Nobody ever accused them of being consistent.
Nah, gotta be paid ruffians from tesla throwing a tizzy about a public option. 🤔
Same. So these guys just don’t like EVs then?
It’ll stop the “libruls” from enjoying their city.
Time to change the design and ensure the cables are fully charged at all times.
Ceramic wire cutters, suddenly popular in MSP…
I guess we could go the European route and make the cable something the user provides.
Image in link:
I’d contemplated the consequences of a coordinated nationwide attack on Tesla’s charging infrastructure, perhaps during a holiday weekend… something hard to repair, like thermite damage. Gets more dangerous (but of course less realistic) the more dependent on EVs we are.
So glad we didn’t see more attacks like 2013’s Metcalf power plant sniper attack. Assumed we would, and the equipment damaged has multi-month lead times!
