Copper thieves keep damaging EV chargers in Seattle

Copper thieves target Seattle EV stations

Seattle has become a hot spot for the theft of electric vehicle (EV) charging cords, which are rich in copper.

SEATTLE - Seattle has become a hot spot for the theft of electric vehicle (EV) charging cords, which are rich in copper.

Charging provider Electrify America reported that a single station in Georgetown had more than 50 cables stolen over the past couple years.

In that same amount of time, a different station in University Village criminals nabbed more than 20.

"Unfortunately, the theft of charging cables is on the rise," said Rachel Moses with Electrifying America.

Electrify America operates a vast network of 950 charging stations – comprised of more than 4,250 individual chargers- chargers across the U.S. and Canada, serving a quarter of a million users each week. According to Moses, they're seeing a surge of these thefts in California and Nevada too, but the scale of the problem in Seattle is alarming. In the span of a single year, there were 90 incidents reported in the state of Washington.

Video shows theft of electric vehicle (EV) charging cords

Seattle has become a hot spot for the theft of electric vehicle (EV) charging cords, which are rich in copper.

Electrify America has installed lighting and cameras to deter thieves, capturing footage of culprits using bolt cutters to snip the copper-rich cords and flee.

"We’re working very closely with local law enforcement to cut down on this pattern that we’ve seen," Moses added. "But I can’t speculate on what exactly is driving that."

The state Department of Ecology reports a record year for EV ownership, with nearly 170,000 EVs registered in 2023, a 43 percent increase from the previous year. The demand for charging stations is growing.

"It's really the impacted customers that are affected as they think about the holiday break and where they’re going to be able to reroute their charging plan," Moses said.