Tesla charging bays vandalised in Australia just days after opening
Two different Tesla Supercharger sites have been vandalised in Ballarat, Victoria, as 28 charging bays have been rendered completely inoperable, one of them just days after opening. Local authorities and experts point to rising incidents of copper theft rather than anti-EV or anti-Musk sentiment.
Image: Daniel Bönnighausen
Social media posts of the sabotage in Ballarat show new Tesla Supercharging bays, all with their cables cut off. “It’s worth saying up front that this isn’t really an EV story: it’s a copper story,” Evie Networks’ Geoff Brady told the Australian automotive publication, _TheDriven_. “The same thieves are taking cable from telecommunications pits, construction sites, rail corridors, etc. Charging sites are just a newer target on the same list.”
Hussein Dia, Professor of Transport Technology and Sustainability at Victoria’s Swinburn University, told _Yahoo News Australia_ that EV charging cable theft “is becoming a more significant infrastructure issue in Australia.”
“We have now seen incidents reported in different states, including Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, and some locations appear to have been targeted repeatedly,” he said.
Hussein noted that these continuous copper theft attacks on EV chargers “undermine confidence in public charging” as the Antipodean nation electrifies its transport sector. “Drivers need to know that when a charger appears on a map, it will actually be available when they arrive,” he said.
Public outrage at the vandalism was heated, with one person labelling the vandalism as “political terrorism” while another wrote that destroying critical infrastructure like petrol stations and charging points should receive a prison sentence, according to _news.com.au_. With the start of the Victorian school holidays, holiday makers driving electric cars may find themselves on a wider search for an available and functional charging bay in the area.
In other attacks elsewhere in Australia, city councillors talk of having budget shortfalls having to repair charging sites after similar attacks. Copper theft has become a significant problem in Australia – as elsewhere – as the price of copper has skyrocketed with increasing electrification, paired with a rapidly rising cost of living. Over the last 12 months, the price of copper has increased in value by 37.8 per cent and is now trading at above 14,000 US dollars a tonne.
According to numerous Australian publications, lighting, the installation of CCTV and alarms as well as the use of aluminium capbles for public electric car chargers are being employed to help solve the issue. Charging infrastructure providers are also coming up with their own solutions
Evie Networks’ Brady told _TheDriven_ that they are integrating cable protection in their hardware with measures such as mesh and shields, and identifying ink, along with cameras and alarms at higher-risk locations.
“For us it has increased over the past 12–18 months, broadly tracking the copper price and the growth in the number of sites out there. It’s still a small proportion of our network in any given month, but it’s no longer rare.”
Brady said that charging networks are collaborating with police to put pressure on the scrap metal trade. “The single most effective intervention isn’t at the charger, it’s at the point of sale for stolen metal,” he said.
The damage has been estimated at between $2,000 to $5,000 AUD (approx. 1,200 to 3,000 euros) per charging bay. All Tesla Superchargers are expected to be fully operational by the end of the week.
TheDriven, Yahoo, news.com.au