[somerandomqaguy]

I'd expect the charging cables to be the easy target then. EV owners, please correct me if I'm wrong but I can't imagine that the charging port would be able resist a cordless drill for more then 4 or 5 seconds. And from what I've seen of the CCS connectors, Home Depot probably carries big drill bits long enough drill into into and completely destroy the locking mechanism.

Drill in, destroy the the charging port on the car, retrieve the cable and sell on Ebay. How much do one of those charging cables go? $200? If not, and if the owner does something to lock the cable, cutting it for the copper is still worth a few dollars.

[judge2020]

This is already a thing in terms of Tesla superchargers being sawed off to be sold for scrap. Copper is pretty valuable.

https://electrek.co/2022/02/07/tesla-supercharger-cables-sto...

[modeless]

I wonder if this is part of the reason the new superchargers have liquid cooled cables. Less copper. Also, supercharger cables are way shorter than any other charger.

[skykooler]

I guess they can do that because all the cars have the charge port in the same spot.

[danans]

> And from what I've seen of the CCS connectors, Home Depot probably carries big drill bits long enough drill into into and completely destroy the locking mechanism.

> If not, and if the owner does something to lock the cable, cutting it for the copper is still worth a few dollars.

Worth the risk of electrocution with a possibly live 50-350kW flowing through a CCS charger cable? Seems like a different level of risk than a catalytic converter.

[somerandomqaguy]

I commented to the other fellow, but long story short; wasn't thinking about the high voltage fast charging lines, but rather little level 1 chargers people would use to charge cars parked on the street over night. Intact, they're worth a fair amount and at least first glance there doesn't seem to be a lot of risk involved if done properly.

[modeless]

Why would you go for one that's plugged in to a car? There are plenty of unoccupied ones around and they don't have 800 volts running through them.

[somerandomqaguy]

Wasn't really thinking about the high voltage fast chargers; you can just cut those straight off the super charging station without a car there. I was thinking more along the lines of those little Level 1 CCS chargers that someone would use to charge a parked car on the street overnight.

And aim here is to retrieve the charging cable intact. If you do it right the drill bit shouldn't be getting anywhere close to the energized lines. Just an example, check this data sheet for an EV inlet port: https://www.phoenixcontact.com/us/products/1162148/pdf

The locking mechanism is located to the side. You don't need to remove the locking pin as it's recessed in the charging handle itself, you just need to destroy the mechanism behind the pin so that there's enough void there for you to jostle the pin out and free the connector.

In theory it should actually be quite safe for a thief.

[uni_rule]

there are "easier" ways to steal copper