Electric Car Charging Cable Becomes A Mampuk Thief Target

Illustasi (Freepic)

JAKARTA - The thief is now eyeing an electric car charging cable (EV) in the garage. These cables are easy targets because they are expensive and easy to steal.

With more and more plug-in electric and hybrid cars (PHEVs) on the streets, thieves have more opportunities to steal charging cables. Most electric car owners leave their vehicles to charge overnight in the garage, leaving them vulnerable to theft.

Stealing charging cables is quite easy. Thieves only need to pull it out of both ends. In some cases, cables may be protected by a lockdown mechanism, but this is not always effective.

The cost of replacing the charging cable can reach millions of rupiah. In addition, owners of electric cars may need to wait a few days until the replacement cable arrives.

Quoted from Carscoops, July 20 and previously reported by NBC4, a resident of Los Angeles, Bob Schneiderman, recently realized that his Audi e-tron charging cable was missing. After checking security camera footage in his garage, he saw a masked man in a hoodie shirt pulling a charging cable and leaving on his bicycle at 5,22 am. The owner of this electric car revealed that the cost of replacing the charging cable reached 2,700 US dollars or around Rp. 40 million.

This is just one of many cases where the owner of an electric vehicle managed to record the perpetrators of the crime on camera, although it was difficult to track them later. Another Los Angeles resident said he managed to catch the thief, and after the fight, he managed to regain his backpack with another charging cable and charger in it, suggesting that this was not the first time for the thief.

The practice of stealing charging cables is not limited in the United States. Reported by Express, April 18, cables were also stolen in England, where thieves often cut parts connecting to chargers and cars. Copper from the cable is sold for recycling, while the cables themselves are sold in the used goods market at a fairly expensive price.

Well, it is recommended that owners of electric vehicles or PHEVs can consider adding a key to the charger at home. If possible, charge the electric car inside the garage locked or in an invisible place from the highway. With appropriate preventive measures, electric car owners can reduce the risk of becoming victims of this increasingly troublesome charging cable theft.