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’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!