Copper wire thieves have a new target: Tesla vehicle charging stations near Yosemite

Copper wire thieves who shut down a new Tesla charging station near Yosemite National Park this month exposed a weakness in the nation’s effort to transition to cleaner passenger cars.

With the price of copper soaring to more than $4.50 a pound Friday, the heavy cables are prime targets for crooks. Charging stations for other electric vehicles were also hit recently at multiple electric vehicle stations in Fresno.

The Oakhurst station was struck twice, once on Feb. 1 and again on Feb. 4, said Kayla Woods, spokeswoman for the Madera County Sheriff’s Office.

Tech-savvy Tesla owners were quick to spread the word of the crime, while noting that it’s not the first time this has taken place as the automaker builds a network of charging stations around the U.S.

Efforts to reach Tesla to comment on the incident were unsuccessful, but other enthusiasts of the car company noted the firm moved quickly to repair the damage, and one-up the crooks by adding more lighting and an alarm system.

Fresno electric vehicle chargers targeted, too

While it appeared the automaker was on top of the issue, multiple charging stations designed for all makes of EV vehicles were out of order Friday at several locations in Fresno, including two belonging to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District.

At Shields and Highway 41, one charger was heavily damaged with a missing cable and a smashed housing. And at Highway 99 and Clinton Avenue, just one of seven chargers was in working order.

Said Jaime Holt, chief communications officer for the district: “While we’re not aware of this happening broadly, we are definitely concerned about thefts...and this becoming a bigger issue as we all have with respect to broader copper theft issues.

“In general, these installations are covered by insurance policies ... and we have heard that supply chain issues may also now be an additional barrier to quickly replacing wires that are stolen/vandalized.”

An entire row of chargers were also rendered inoperable at the Caltrans site on Olive Avenue and Highway 99. Efforts to obtain more information about repairs by reaching out to Caltrans were unsuccessful.

Fresno police spokesman Felipe Uribe said the department was not able Friday to say just how many of the chargers were vandalized in the city.

Increasing thefts of cables could prove to be worrisome for the California Energy Commission, which is planning on 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025, and for the Biden administration, which Thursday proposed spending $5 billion on charging stations across the United States.

This story was originally published February 11, 2022 at 2:27 PM.