One of the requirements when buying an electric car is to know that there are chargers in your city or destination that will charge the electric vehicle. Otherwise, you risk getting into trouble. The problem is, they are not exactly Electric vehicle charging areas are becoming targets for thieves.

What is there to steal in these places if it’s just for loading cars? Copper has become a sought-after object in recent years.. Without copper, the charger won’t work. And without a charger, you can’t charge the car. And so your precious Xiaomi SU7 runs out of fuel.

Copper is the new gold

Copper, the chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29 in the table, is part of the copper family. ANDIt is one of the best conductors of electricity. (second only to silver) due to its high electrical conductivity, ductility and malleability The most commonly used material in the production of electrical cables and other electrical elements and electronic components.

So why do thieves go crazy over it and steal it from everywhere, whether from AVE plants, from the electrical transformers of an honest farmer in the Seville countryside, or from electric car charging points? It’s malleable, It’s easy to reformat, people use it and need it every day. All electrical infrastructures need tons of electricity to function, and countries like China need tons of electricity to build new cities.

And it’s worth the money, a lot of money: According to this ABC article, in March of this year Copper price exceeded $11,000 per ton. When copper goes up, so does theft. And this is not a Spanish problem, it is a global problem. In the UK, Scotland Yard sees copper theft as second priority after terrorism. In Russia and Macedonia, there are mafias that will tear up entire bridges for copper. In the US, the FBI has warned of the increasing risk. In Australia and Scotland, there have been major power outages in major cities.

Precious copper in electric vehicle chargers

Spain invaded 7th place in Europe among countries with the most electric vehicle charging points throughout their territory. We speak in numbers 30,000 chargersfar too few for the country’s fleet of less than half a million EVs. This is one of the device’s main shortcomings, because if there are few charging points, you don’t dare switch to electric ones for fear of being stranded.

But as we can see, there is another problem: thefts of chargers where things like external hoses have been cut where the valuable material comes in. Let’s do the math:

• 30,000 chargers
• Up to 12 – 15 pounds of copper per 400 amp charger
• For each charging hose cut you can get between 15 and 20 Euros
• Some chargers have up to 6 hoses
• The fee for copper is between 6 and 7 euros per kilo.

The result is: You can make money very quickly and easily just by cutting the hoses. According to an expert gets “Five minutes“And since the hose does not carry an electrical charge until the outlet is connected to the vehicle, there is not as much danger of electric shock as occurs, for example, when copper is stolen from a transformer or in a train installation.

So dealing with insurance companies is a process that can take weeks and 1,000 – 1,500 Euros to replace the hose becomes 3,000 Euros because you need to check the connector too.

Solutions? There are those who offer replacing copper with aluminumbut for now this would make the charging hose very heavy. Solving this problem is not easy but necessary, especially since if there are already few chargers and this makes people less encouraged, having existing ones broken would be the final touch.

via | Xataka / ABC

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