It's nearly unheard of to pull up to a gas station only to find all the pump lines have been cut. But this has become a regular occurrence for folks trying to "fill up" their cars at public EV charging stations.
"In 2021, the number of U.S. registered light-duty electric vehicles on the roads reached 2.13 million vehicles, a sharp increase from the less than 100,000 EVs on the roads in 2012," according to the Energy Information Administration.
This is because sales are on the rise, with Edmunds reporting that nearly 10% of new car sales in early 2025 were EVs.
There has also been a dramatic increase in access to public charging stations — often found in grocery store parking lots. Unfortunately, there has been a rise in vandalism of these charging sites.
One Redditor shared their frustrating experience. They posted several photos and explained, "As if public charging isn't already challenging."
The images showed a bay of chargers as well as two closeups of cut cables. The poster also included a screenshot of the Electrify America app, which noted that all the stations at this site had been damaged.
While the poster likely made it home or to another charging site, this left them in a precarious position.
Vandalism sometimes seems to be a reaction to the assumed political leanings of EV owners, but it can also be about money. "Historically, most vandalism against EVs and charging infrastructure was committed by those with anti-EV beliefs or some personal vendetta. But more recently, thieves are just looking to make a quick buck by nabbing the copper material used in cable wiring," Inside EVs wrote.
Alongside damage to chargers, bad actors have keyed electric cars and rolled coal on people. The latter is a practice of dumping excess exhaust to show off how little the offender cares for the environment.
Other Redditors were quick to commiserate.
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When you think about owning an EV, what concerns you most about public charging stations?
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Chargers not working 🚫 "There are a couple of sites in Seattle where this happens every month or so. It's infuriating," one person wrote.
Someone else thought these incidents would continue to increase, saying, "This is going to happen more and more; they're too soft of a target."
A third proposed surveillance to deter thieves: "They need to put cameras and prominent signage warning of the cameras at every charger."
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