A new and costly form of theft is spreading across Britain’s rapidly expanding electric vehicle network. Charging cables critical for powering the nation’s transition to electric mobility are being hacked, ripped, and hauled away by organised gangs faster than networks can repair them.
Police forces across the UK, from Nottingham to South Yorkshire, have logged more than 200 official reports of cable thefts since 2022. But industry estimates say the real figure is far higher. InstaVolt alone has recorded hundreds of incidents, with West Midlands accounting for a quarter of all cases. Each attack often disables entire charging hubs, leaving drivers stranded and operators coping with repair bills that quickly hit thousands of pounds per site.
The motivation is depressingly simple copper. Though each cable contains only a small amount, large-scale thefts scraped from dozens of locations provide quick profit on the scrapyard black market. Repair costs, downtime, and recertification mean every £20 length of copper can lead to losses exceeding £3,000.
Germany and parts of the U.S. are facing similar trends. In Germany, power provider EnBW logged more than 900 incidents this year alone, with operators calling it a “coordinated criminal operation.” But in Britain, many networks say the problem is exacerbated by unclear laws and an overstretched police force. Because these crimes don’t yet qualify as “critical infrastructure theft,” investigations often struggle to gain traction.
In response, operators are investing heavily in countermeasures. InstaVolt and Tesla have embedded GPS trackers and traceable dyes within their cables. ChargePoint has begun developing reinforced cable sleeves to make cutting laborious and costly. Other firms are using forensic ink sprays that mark thieves for later identification. Coordinated efforts with scrap merchants are also underway to choke off the resale route for stolen materials.
Drivers arriving at taped-off charge points face disrupted journeys and mounting frustration. “Each fault chips away at public confidence,” one industry insider said. “We’re asking people to trust a system that keeps breaking.”
With 300,000 public chargers targeted for installation by 2030, the scale of the issue threatens to slow the UK’s electric transition. Until cable theft is tackled as a national infrastructure concern, the EV revolution risks being stalled literally by a pair of wire cutters.