The charging infrastructure for electric vehicles in the U.S. has been criticized for years, and though much of the criticism surrounds malfunctioning chargers, vandalism is another issue. According to the Electric Vehicle Charging Association, vandalism affected about 20 percent of charging stations in the country in 2023. To combat this, ChargePoint just introduced two new deterrent measures: The industry’s first cut-resistant charging cable, and a built-in charger alarm system. As more and more EVs hit the road each day, preserving the functionality of the public charging infrastructure grows more important.
ChargePoint’s new cut-resistant charging cables are designed to make the cables sustainably more difficult for vandals to cut, while still remaining flexible enough to easily maneuver while in use. The new cable technology will first be available for all of its commercial and fleet charging stations, but ChargePoint also plans to selectively license the cable design to other charging station manufacturers toward the middle of the year. Rick Wilmer, CEO of ChargePoint said:
“We do not view ourselves as victims of vandalism, but rather responsible for solving it, not only for our customers but for the industry....”
Should these ne’er-do-wells attempt to vandalize ChargePoint EV charging cords or engage in any other form of charger vandalization, the new ChargePoint Protect system jumps into action. ChargePoint Protect is an alarm system integrated with the charger that uses its existing screen, lights, and speakers to create “a highly effective alarm system.” ChargePoint Protect is capable of real-time cable tampering detection, and can text or email the customer when the alarm is triggered. This system will be distributed via a cloud-based software system upgrade at no additional cost for select ChargePoint charge station models beginning this month.