Why EV owners should be careful charging their car on the street

With the electric vehicle revolution really beginning to take hold, on-street charging solutions are becoming a more common sight.

However, motorists might want to be careful about charging their vehicles out of sight of their household as thieves could be targeting the cables.

Rubbish removal company Divert.co.uk has warned that criminals want to steal the charging cables for the metals inside.

Company spokesman Mark Hall said: “Car chargers are particularly appealing to thieves because they can be sold for up to £200 and they are selling them everywhere, eBay, Facebook, and to dodgy scrap dealers.

“And they can be pretty costly and inconvenient for you to replace, so it’s best to keep it locked away from the crooks.”

The vast majority of electric vehicles and charge points have locking mechanisms to prevent passersby from pulling the cable free.

However, these aren’t always fool-proof, as a report from electric vehicle website Electrek in December 2020 indicated some Tesla owners were finding their locking mechanisms were failing in colder weather.

To protect your charger, Hall suggests keeping “the charger locked when it’s not in use, or even better would be to bring it inside and hide it in your garage.” He also suggests padlocking the charger to the car as a failsafe in case the built-in lock fails.

For those who have access to a garage, Hall suggests putting the charger inside so you can top up the battery out of sight of thieves, while those who have to charge away from their property should try to use a charger as close as possible.

Electric vehicles sales have seen big increases in recent years, and this is only set to boom after the government announced the UK would ban sales of combustion-engined cars from 2030.