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A few days ago, ChargePoint announced two new technologies that should help a LOT with EV charger reliability: cut-resistant cables and an alarm system. While this should go a long way toward ending this problem or at least reducing its impact on EV drivers, there’s still a lot more work to do.
Let’s first talk briefly about the cables and alarms.
Details and diagrams are not yet available, but basically, there are layers in the outer parts of the cable that are a lot more difficult to cut through. I’d imagine that this is a metal mesh of some kind that knives and bolt cutters would take considerable time or strength to get through. These cables will be available for station owners soon (ChargePoint sells and services stations, but typically does not own them), and by the middle of 2025 the company hopes to sell cables and license the technology to other charging companies.
If someone still manages to get through the cable, or if they cut an older cable that doesn’t yet have the technology, ChargePoint Protect kicks in. The speakers begin to emit a loud sound, existing lights begin flashing, and the station’s screen flashes a message to attract attention. A message is also sent to ChargePoint and the station’s owner to alert them that someone just cut a cable at the charging station. More importantly, people traveling can see in their apps that the station has a problem so they can make other plans.
Between these two things, a thief is less likely to totally take a station offline. If they do manage to cut past the cut-resistant cables, they’re more likely to run away once the first stall sounds the alarm and tells them that the authorities are on the way. After word gets around that ChargePoint stations fight back a bit when you steal a cable, hopefully criminals start looking for other ways to get copper to trade for drugs.
“ChargePoint Protect and our cut-resistant cables demonstrate our relentless dedication to offering a dependable charging network. We do not view ourselves as victims of vandalism, but rather responsible for solving it, not only for our customers but for the industry,” said Rick Wilmer, CEO of ChargePoint. “We are sharing the technology to combat vandalism in the most aggressive way possible with the aim to eliminate charger reliability as a hinderance to EV adoption.”
A Wider Problem Requires Wider Solutions
I think this is exactly what ChargePoint needs to be doing, and it’s really all the company can do about this problem. But, the rest of us really need to look at societal problems like this and think about what we can do to stop people from wanting to steal a charging cable to begin with.
This goes far beyond the normal scope of CleanTechnica, so I won’t suggest any specific solutions in this short article, but we need to think about things like mental health, the real nature of addiction, economic issues, and human isolation. If things are so bleak that people are stealing cables to survive or feed addiction, we clearly have a lot of work to do.
Featured image by ChargePoint.
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