A few years ago, a couple arrived at an EV charging site on a mobility scooter in broad daylight, armed with a hacksaw. They proceeded to steal the charging cables, apparently unconcerned about being filmed from a passing bus.
But what might sound like an almost comical example of opportunistic theft has evolved into something far more serious: organised criminal gangs targeting EV charging infrastructure across Europe, sometimes hitting multiple locations in a single night.
According to Vern Pollard, cable theft response expert and director at Formula Space, a Canterbury company developing technology to protect EV charging cables from theft, the days of thieves turning up with basic hand tools are increasingly giving way to coordinated operations.
"Perpetrators work in teams, arrive in stolen vehicles and wear balaclavas or masks to avoid identification. They use high-powered cutting tools that complete the cut quickly, and a single group can hit 5 or more sites in one night," said Pollard.
Police contacts have told Formula Space that these gangs have established routes for moving stolen copper, with some also involved in theft from telecommunications networks. And the scale of the problem is becoming difficult to ignore.
UK charge point operator (CPO) InstaVolt reported losing approximately 260 cables from 130 chargers in 2025. German CPO EnBW has experienced theft at 120 locations since the beginning of 2025, with total damage costs exceeding €1 million. In France, roughly 10 per cent of the national charging network has reportedly been affected, while in Spain, thieves have been apprehended after stealing 34 kilometres of copper charging cables.
Making copper theft more trouble than it's worth
Formula Space is tackling the problem with CableGuard, a protective sleeve fitted around EV charging cables to make them harder and slower to cut, while maintaining the flexibility drivers need to connect their vehicles.
The company has now launched a V4 cut protection option, developed specifically to counter increasingly aggressive attacks involving angle grinders and other power tools.
Rather than making cables impossible to steal, the technology aims to increase the time, equipment, and effort required to remove them, making an attack more conspicuous and increasing the risk of being caught. The new sleeve is engineered to reduce the effectiveness of cutting tools during an attack, potentially turning a theft that once took seconds into a prolonged operation.
It can be retrofitted to existing chargers in approximately 20 minutes and has been verified by charger manufacturers including Nidec, Wallbox, and Kempower.
Pollard explained:
"Operators tell us the problem isn’t just the theft, it’s the escalation in the severity of the attack and the extent of the damage. As thieves get more sophisticated, charge point operators need us to apply the same thinking to the theft prevention solutions we create.
V4 cut protection is our direct answer to that: a new technology that not only protects cables from being taken in high-risk areas but also acts as a deterrent for the future."
CableGuard is already installed across thousands of sites globally, according to the company, and has been adopted by operators including TotalEnergies, Atlante, InstaVolt, Allego, E.ON, RAW Charging, and Sainsbury's Smart Charge. Where does all the stolen copper go? The obvious question is who is buying all this copper, particularly when European countries have introduced tighter regulations governing scra
s. In Belgium, for example, dealers buying scrap metal from private individuals must identify and register the seller. Cash payments for used copper cable were banned in 2013, with the restriction extended to all scrap metal in March 2024.
But according to Pollard, organised groups have adapted.
"Cable is stripped and chopped, and in some cases melted into ingots, which removes any markings that could trace it back to the site it came from," he explained.
Once processed, the copper can be mixed into larger consignments of legitimate scrap and sold across borders, making it harder to establish its origins. He says a minority of scrap dealers still accept material without proper checks, providing an outlet for criminal groups despite stricter regulations.
Why some charging sites are easy targets
Not all charging locations are equally vulnerable. According to Pollard, thieves are less concerned with the manufacturer of the charger than the surrounding environment.
"The sites targeted most often share the same conditions, regardless of the charger manufacturer or the network operator. They sit in quiet locations with little or no layered protection, such as monitored CCTV or good site lighting," he said. Charging bays tucked into the corners of car parks, away from passing traffic and nearby buildings, are particularly exposed.
And replacing a stolen cable doesn't necessarily solve the problem. At one UK charging site, thieves returned within 24 hours of each cable reinstallation, stealing the replacements three times in succession.
The operator subsequently installed Formula Space's highest level of CableGuard protection, and Pollard says there have been no further thefts at the location in the three months since.
Some groups, according to Pollard, actively monitor sites to determine when replacement cables have been fitted. But does it actually stop thieves?
At one site, an offender armed with a hand tool spent so long trying to cut through CableGuard that Formula Space's 24-hour monitored surveillance service detected the attack and alerted police. According to Pollard:
"Officers arrived and caught him with the tool still in his hand."
Not every attempted theft ends that way, however. Pollard acknowledges that particularly determined groups, given enough time and the right equipment, have succeeded in removing protected cables.
"Any cable protection has to leave the cable flexible and easy for drivers to use, so with this constraint we believe no design can make theft impossible," he said.
Instead, the company is trying to change the economics of cable theft, making the potential reward less attractive than the time and risk involved.
"CableGuard is designed to make an attack slow enough that the time on site and the risk of being caught outweigh what the copper is worth," Pollard explained.
The protection can also be supported by forensic marking, which helps link recovered cables, tools, and vehicles to the original theft location, and GPS tracking to follow stolen cables after removal.
A growing problem for charging networks
InstaVolt UK has worked with Formula Space on the development of earlier CableGuard versions. Delvin Lane, CEO at InstaVolt UK, said:
"As the UK’s leading ultra-rapid EV charging network, we’re always pursuing opportunities to enhance the reliability and security of our sites. Partnering with Formula Space on the development of CableGuard has allowed us to directly support a solution to the growing industry challenge of EV cable theft.
I'm pleased to see the collaboration delivering a solution that we believe will make a real difference, not just for InstaVolt as a business, but for our loyal customers who rely on our network."
Beyond the cost of replacing stolen copper, cable theft creates another problem for Europe's EV transition: chargers that drivers cannot use.
Each attack can mean damaged equipment, repair costs, and charging bays taken out of service, potentially undermining confidence in infrastructure that Europe is investing heavily to expand.
And while the image of thieves making off with charging cables on a mobility scooter might raise a smile, the emergence of organised groups equipped with stolen vehicles, power tools, and established copper resale networks is considerably less amusing.
For charging operators, the challenge is no longer simply replacing stolen cables. It's making sure thieves don't see those replacements as their next opportunity.