Tesla charging stations keep getting their cables cut and not always for the copper

[Pgc]

Charging cables can be made from inexpensive aluminum.  They just have to be heavy gauge to handle the amps, and sized to accommodate expansions.

[Christopher Hugo]

I seriously think Tesla should be like Nio and have swappable batteries.

[David L.]

How about wireless chargers similar to like we use for cell phones but much larger and you just park your car over it?

[Tesla1001]

Priceless.  8)  ;)

[Clint]

I think cordless charging employs something called mutual inductance which is basically transmitting electricity through magnetism.  I suspect it would take a long time to charge a traction battery that way.  Unfortunately, more security cameras might be the best solution.

[Joz]

It's often just anti-EV vandalism.  At my train station we have (had) free chargers.  They were cable cut and they just left the cut side sitting on the ground by the charger to make their message clear.

[Dickhole]

To respond to the guy saying its the people rolling coal on Teslas, I own a 2016 model X p90d and its great, also 2 cummins trucks.  I'll roll all the coal all over my own car when my wife is driving it, but I would never cut a charging cord.  Plus both trucks get over 700 miles on a tank sooooo.......

[Martin Winlow]

I should think the abundance of evidence of alcohol consumption in the video of the LA garage goes a long way to explain the reasons behind this particular incident.

[Janon]

These "people" are dangerous and deranged. Now EVs are part of their idiotic "culture war"

We get it. You don't believe in climate change, or have endless rationalizations, you don't believe in pollution, or have endless rationalizations, you believe fossil fuel industry FUD because you're not very bright..... but LEAVE EV OWNERS ALONE.

As for the guy "rolling coal" who pretends he also owns a Tesla, thanks for spewing noxious black carcinogens into the local air.  How much your PoS truck "gets on a tank" is irrelevant. The problem is how much poison it pumps into the air.  But yeah yeah your freedum and blah blah private jets. We know.

Oh, you can't send 270kWh *wirelessly*, nor does it make any kind of sense to "build the cable into the car".  How is a technical forum this dim?

[UberChemist]

I'm guessing it's the people who constantly profess peace and tolerance upset about Musk buying Twitter.

[_MT_]

Easy  fix all ev carry there own charge cable.  The charging stations only have a plug in to attach your cable to.

Which is probably why public AC chargers typically don't have cables. It's cheaper (it's actually a significant cost on those chargers) and eliminates the risk of cables being cut. But it's less convenient which is why my private charger does have a permanently attached cable. It sucks when you have to constantly pack and unpack cables.

But it's not really an option for high-power DC chargers. Those cables are expensive, thick, inflexible, heavy. And some of them are liquid-cooled.

[_MT_]

How are they not getting electrocuted? Does the charger cable not send power until plugged into the car?

Did you really think those cables are energized when not in use? Not only it has to be plugged in, it has to be locked in place to prevent removal while energized. Normally, equipment needing this much power would have to be hardwired.

[_MT_]

The solution is probably a retractable cord, or cord that is tucked into the station, and locked in place.

That only makes sense if you have to identify yourself before you can retrieve a cable. Then they have something to go on. But if all it takes is to train a camera on a charger to protect it, that might be the simplest and cheapest option, at least for DC chargers.

[_MT_]

Oh, you can't send 270kWh *wirelessly*

Why exactly? Technically speaking, a transformer transfers power wirelessly. In a way, even a wire transfers power wirelessly. ;-) That's because energy is transferred through an EM field created by the movement of electrons inside the wire, not the electrons themselves (contrary to popular belief).

The problem with current technologies is that efficiency is just too poor. So, even if you could scale it up to 300 kW, you'd probably end up with more than 100 kW of waste heat. And unless your name is Nicola Tesla, distance is a problem.

[Ronald Stamper]

The reason the cables at the LA charger were cut so long is because that's where the hacksaw could fit. It couldn't fit in that tiny gap to cut it closer.