Tesla charging stations keep getting their cables cut and not always for the copper

The unannounced competition between electric cars and and their gas-powered counterparts has Tesla drivers bearing the brunt of vandalism and aggressive behavior with Supercharger station cables just the latest victim. That's one of the theories after a number of Tesla stations had their charging cables cut to about an inch from the box, but the other explanation is that people may simply be doing it for a much more prosaic reason, to sell the copper inside the cables to scrap metal yards.

In any case, already two Supercharger locations - in Oakland and Cincinnati - have fallen victims to the copper harvesting trend. The Tesla technician who came to replace the cables at the Cincinnati location said it has happened twice in the span of a week and only to the Superchargers out of the security cameras' reach. The phenomenon is now spreading to parking garages with Tesla charging stations installed, too. These particular cord-cutters, however, may have a more sinister motive besides selling copper for scrap.

While the road Superchargers in Oakland and Cincinnati saw their cables cut within an inch of their usable length, the ones in the Los Angeles parking garage had many more inches left hanging on the wall box. Thus, while the copper harvesting explanation may have been valid for the road Superchargers, the one in the LA parking garage could be chalked off to the increasing trend of Tesla-directed vandalism. In any case, the increase in such incidents is becoming a nuisance for Tesla drivers and technicians alike.

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