Tesla is testing a couple of creative solutions to try to prevent charging cable thefts at its Supercharging stations, which has become a serious problem for all charging station operators.
There are still a lot of problems with public charging stations for electric vehicles. There are issues with the number of stations, the number of chargers pers station, peak charges, which increases prices, and the reliability.
Several factors affect he reliability and uptime of a station, including having charging cables.
Believe it or not, it’s not uncommon for thieves to target charging stations to cut the cables off the charging stalls in order to sell the metal in them.
Tesla operates more DC fast-charging stations than anyone and therefore, it is a big target for these thieves.
The automaker has now confirmed that it is testing new ways to try to prevent those cable theft.
First, it is currently testing a new wrap around the cable. It has been spotted at a Tesla Supercharger in Seattle, Washington (Reddit):
These are DyeDefender, which consist of small hoses that wrap around the cable and if they are cut, they shoot dye all over.
It looks something like this:
Tesla’s head of charging, Max de Zegher, confirmed that Tesla is testing the solution.
He also said that Tesla is engraving the metal in the cables:
Supercharger cables will also have “Property of Tesla” engraved from our Buffalo NY factory, so recycling companies shouldn’t accept them and notify us. It’s a scalable, cost-effective solution that doesn’t impact service operations & customer experience.
He shared this picture on X:
As long as the scrapyards and recycling facilities are willing to enforce this, it could help deter thieves from stealing the cables if they are not able to sell them.
There are black markets for these sort of things, but they often offer lower prices, which could make the thefts not worth it in the first place.
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