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Stealing charging cables

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Old Jul 14, 2023 | 04:43 AM
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Default Stealing charging cables

It's becoming a big thing

When Bob Schneiderman walked out to the driveway of his Mid-City Los Angeles house one recent morning, he noticed something missing: the all-important charging cord for his electric car. "I couldn't believe it," Schneiderman told the NBC4 I-Team. "It made no sense. I thought maybe I'd left it somewhere." Then on a hunch, he looked back at his RING security camera, and noticed that at 5:22 a.m., a man in a hoodie and mask walked up his driveway, unplugged the cord from his car, unplugged the other end from the outside wall socket, and took off on a bike. .....
https://www.nbclosangeles.com/invest...-part/3187391/

Last edited by bitkahuna; Jul 15, 2023 at 08:55 AM.
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Old Jul 14, 2023 | 05:42 AM
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What is his cable made of?

"And replacing his stolen cable was pricey at $2,700"

My cable is no where near that expensive. It's also in my garage, so this is not a concern for me.
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Old Jul 14, 2023 | 12:47 PM
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Most cars have lock on the charging port so shouldn't be much an issue. the ones that don't, like Prius Prime for example, would be easy to steal.

The car in question looks like a Genesis or Hyundai..not sure what they do, but even my old 14' Leaf had a lock on the charging port.

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Old Jul 14, 2023 | 01:01 PM
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Copper is $4 per pound. That's in usable form not wire that has to be processed, melted and purified.
There are now more than 1 million electric vehicles in California, and pricey cables used to charge them are a hot item for thieves, who either post them on popular resale websites or sell them for scrap metal since they're full of expensive copper wiring

Last edited by LeX2K; Jul 14, 2023 at 01:05 PM.
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Old Jul 14, 2023 | 10:02 PM
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My Electrify Home charger is worth about $500, the cable is pretty worthless as they would have to cut it. It probably only contains a few dollars worth of copper. If someone tried to sell a cut charging cable, I think it would probably be worth a few laughs, nothing more. I think it's more vandalism than theft.

What they may be stealing is the mobile chargers, but most EV owners don't even use those, which is why they are now sold separately

Last edited by AMIRZA786; Jul 14, 2023 at 10:08 PM.
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Old Jul 14, 2023 | 10:58 PM
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People cutting wires while charging....going to be an electrifying experience for them lol.

Originally Posted by AMIRZA786
My Electrify Home charger is worth about $500, the cable is pretty worthless as they would have to cut it. It probably only contains a few dollars worth of copper. If someone tried to sell a cut charging cable, I think it would probably be worth a few laughs, nothing more. I think it's more vandalism than theft.

What they may be stealing is the mobile chargers, but most EV owners don't even use those, which is why they are now sold separately
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Old Jul 14, 2023 | 11:02 PM
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Click bait false information sensationalized article nothing more.
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Old Jul 14, 2023 | 11:26 PM
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People are stealing everything that's not nailed down. Lol

I was on vacation years ago on the third floor of a time share condo.

Each floor had it's own laundry room and someone stole all my jeans and threw the rest of my clothes they didn't want on the floor.

I think a lot of stuff like this EV cord and my jeans all ends up on auction sites.

Anything small enough to fit in a box and ship. Lol
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Old Jul 15, 2023 | 04:55 AM
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Originally Posted by Mike728
What is his cable made of?

"And replacing his stolen cable was pricey at $2,700"

My cable is no where near that expensive. It's also in my garage, so this is not a concern for me.
I continue to not understand why people who have garages do not use them for vehicles. Not specific to EVs, but I see posts on Nextdoor about cars parked in driveways or on the street getting broken into. Anything not bolted down or out of sight is likely to get stolen now regardless of value.
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Old Jul 15, 2023 | 05:58 AM
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Originally Posted by link13
I continue to not understand why people who have garages do not use them for vehicles. Not specific to EVs, but I see posts on Nextdoor about cars parked in driveways or on the street getting broken into. Anything not bolted down or out of sight is likely to get stolen now regardless of value.
I use my garages but I only have a two car garage and have three cars. Most people in my neighborhood have too much junk filling up their garage because up until recently our neighborhood couldn’t have sheds so there was a lack of storage.
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Old Jul 15, 2023 | 08:59 AM
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Originally Posted by LeX2K
Click bait false information sensationalized article nothing more.
feel free to look at any of dozens of similar articles.

https://www.google.com/search?q=thef...rging%20cables

Originally Posted by link13
Anything not bolted down or out of sight is likely to get stolen now regardless of value.
this.
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Old Jul 15, 2023 | 10:11 AM
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No one is making money selling copper from stolen cables even if Google has 55,600,000 articles saying so.
Originally Posted by ST430
People cutting wires while charging....going to be an electrifying experience for them lol.
No Darwin awards going on here unfortunately too many fail safes.
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Old Jul 15, 2023 | 10:12 AM
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I can say with 99.9 percent surety that this is not a an issue where I live
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Old Jul 15, 2023 | 10:28 AM
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Originally Posted by AMIRZA786
I can say with 99.9 percent surety that this is not a an issue where I live
I'll go out on a limb and say stealing things is a theft problem and not the thing people steal or vandalize.
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Old Jul 15, 2023 | 11:03 AM
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Just throwing this out there. Lol

ANYTHING that can get thrown in a box and sold on an auction sites is prime for theft.

Why else would someone steal a chord or jeans or anything they can grab.

It's for scrap or resale.

And, I always wonder when I'm looking for stuff to buy on the auction sites how much is actually stolen used merchandise and makes me sad to think about it.
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