A Tesla Supercharger station in California’s Bay Area was recently hit by vandals who cut each and every charging cable, rendering the entire site useless.
Vandalism of Tesla vehicles is not uncommon, and we have reported on it many times in the past. Tesla Superchargers are also prone to various forms of vandalism and abuse, with damage to charging stalls or the act of “ICEing,” which entails gas-powered cars blocking Supercharger piles, all being popular forms of disruption.
However, we are now seeing vandalism continue in a strange and extremely disruptive way. A Bay Area Supercharger with several stalls was completely rendered useless after people sliced each of the cables from the individual piles.
A TikTok of the incident was shared by user K9Optima, which occurred at the Tesla Supercharger in Vallejo, California, behind a Target:
@k9optimaBay Area vibes♬ original sound – K9 Optima
The cables that Tesla uses in its Superchargers are full of copper, which can be pulled and scrapped for money, which is likely the most plausible explanation for this type of vandalism.
It now seems this is a new form of attack on Tesla Superchargers, as another identical incident occurred last week in Houston, Texas. Thieves also cut the charging cables in Minneapolis, Minnesota, earlier this year.
It is not an isolated incident, which is unfortunate because Tesla Superchargers have been able to avoid this type of dramatic and potentially long-term vandalism. Of course, ICEing incidents are unfortunate but are only limited to as long as the cars choose to park in Supercharger spots, and Tesla has even come up with ways to combat the act.
Cutting Supercharger cables renders the charging stalls completely out of service until technicians can get to the site and make repairs, which only gives vandals another opportunity to snag the cables and the metals that run through them.
How would you combat this issue? Get in touch and let me know. I’d love to talk! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.
