Some Tesla Supercharger stations are getting their cables cut by vandals, and nobody can really pinpoint the reasons why. Images of damaged Tesla Superchargers have been shared in recent weeks on platforms such as Reddit.
In one Cincinnati Supercharger, for example, a Supercharger site was attacked to such a degree that only an inch or so of the charging cables were left on the damaged stalls. A Tesla technician who went over to replace the damaged cables had reportedly informed an EV advocate who took photos of the site that the vandalism had already happened twice in the span of a week.
The charger stalls that were damaged happened to be just out of sight of security cameras as well.
Considering that the vandals were only leaving very little of the charging cables, speculations suggested that the perpetrators were probably selling copper from the cables for scrap. This seemed to be the likely explanation for the electric vehicle charging station attacks, but an incident at an Urban Supercharger in Los Angeles suggested that something else may be motivating some vandals.
A short video posted on Reddit showed that a series of Urban Superchargers had their cables cut, similar to their counterparts in Cincinnati. In the case of the LA chargers, however, each damaged stall still had several inches worth of cabling left. This does not make much sense if the vandals’ goal was to acquire as much copper as possible from the rapid charging stations.
The reasons behind the Supercharger attacks remain to be seen, though the incidents are undoubtedly a nuisance for Tesla owners across the United States. After all, ICE-ed charging stalls are annoying, but Superchargers with damaged charging cables are even worse. Hopefully, Tesla could initiate a program against such acts of vandalism, at least before the company opens the Supercharger Network to other electric vehicles.
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