On a wall next to his new house, Paul points to four Rawlplugs embedded in the bricks, a few inches from a small grey junction box. "That's where my EV charger was," he says. "When I first viewed the house a few months ago, it was there, but the day I moved in, I noticed it and the cable connecting it to the junction box had disappeared."
Paul, not his real name, is one of a number of home owners on the newly built Lancaster Park development outside Hungerford whose 7kW uPowa EV chargers, some mounted on posts as well as walls, have suffered a similar fate.
"The housing association said they'd get on to it but I haven't heard anything since," he said. "Neither has my neighbour, whose charger has also disappeared."
The issue came to light at a recent meeting of Hungerford Town Council's Highways and Transport Committee. Councillor Fyfe told members that up to 15 chargers had been stolen from Lancaster Park. "Some have been stolen from garages and some from unoccupied premises," he said. "The management company is dealing with the problem."
Press reports had mentioned charger cables also being stolen. Given the difficulty of detaching one from a car, the risk of an electric shock should it be cut and the proximity of home owners, Autocar was intrigued and decided to visit the estate to learn first hand what had occurred.
A short walk from Paul, Rik, whose charger had not been stolen, said he and other residents had formed a WhatsApp group to debate the problem. "I think around 20 chargers have been stolen, most of them when the houses were unoccupied," he said. "I've not heard of charging cables being taken from cars."
Some chargers on the estate are mounted on posts at the ends of driveways. A few of these also appeared to have been stolen. Power cables hung from a couple while blue nylon cords dangled from others. It was at one of these missing chargers that we met Dan, another home owner. "I don't have a car, never mind an electric one, but my dad and my brother each have an EV and were shocked to see my charger had been taken."
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I assume like elsewhere there is an isolator switch adjacent to the EV charger which allows a thief to cut the device off from the electricity supply before simply unscrewing it from the wall.
A registered electrician would not install without the isolator switch.
Maybe but would you put the isolator switch outside in rain etc. You only need some common sense and an insulated screwdriver to work on live electrics, BUT do not try it unless you a thief.
Autocar now copy and pasting FUD straight out of the tabloids. Things must be getting tight. Have you heard that thieves are also taking catalysts and indeed whole cars, bikes, lawnmowers, TVs, and a whole lot of other things that don't belong to them.
If you live somewhere where this happens, take some precautions and make it harder or less attractive for people to take your stuff. Newfangled or otherwise.
Interesting from the point of view that many of us predicted the actual 'cables' would be stolen by the dross, not the chargers themselves.