Electric car charging stations are being increasingly vandalised. The association of Portuguese electric car users has been telling TSF Rádio that while in the past there may have been “one incident per month, or even less, at the moment we have two or three, sometimes more, in a day.”
At the beginning of August, for instance, there were “dozens of charging points” affected daily. “An exponential increase”, explains association president Pedro Faria.
Vandals appear to be either just cutting cables, or stealing them.
The association is calling for “stiffer penalties and more security”, either within the charging points themselves, or via CCTV cameras.
Faria gave the example of Almada, where between August 7 and 8, 80% of rapid charging points were inoperational.
Leiria and the Greater Lisbon area are the places most affected, he said, while Carlos Ferraz, president of the Portuguese association of electric mobility providers, admitted there are charging stations that are rendered out-of-action for days.
“We’re seriously worried”, Ferraz admitted. “We realise that the client arrives to charge a vehicle and finds the place vandalised, making charging impossible”. This is something that if not ‘dealt with’ effectively could put people off (buying electric vehicles) particularly if they have no possibility of charging their car from home.
According to both Faria and Ferraz, vandals are usually focused on extracting copper from the cabling.
This is a problem that has to be studied, and remedied quickly, say both. If not, it is (another) fly in the ointment of the European dream of electric mobility.
Source: TSF Rádio
