Electric car charging businesses in Germany are scrambling to combat cable theft, according to a report shared by Golem.de (machine translation). The “plague” is so bad that a reported 70 charging stations were gutted for their cabling in a single day. The scale of the problem is such that it has become difficult for repairers and cabling suppliers to keep up with the work. We saw ample photo and video evidence from annoyed German social media users, communicating their frustrations, precipitated by the thieves’ selfish acts. Yet there is no obvious solution to this scourge.
🚨Bei einem EnBW Ladepark in Bochum (DE) wurden alle Ladekabel abgeschnitten und gestohlen. Man muss sich für unsere Gesellschaft echt schon schämen 😔 pic.twitter.com/6D19bfRnnSJuly 21, 2025
Golem shared a statement from the CEO of a charging station manufacturer. Philipp Senoner, CEO of Alpitronic, told the German tech publication that “70 cables were cut a day.” The news site also heard from a spokesperson representing Germany's largest fast-charging network operator, EnBW, who complained that 2025 is the worst year yet, with criminals repeatedly cutting and making off with these copper-laden cables.
A contributor to the difficulty in combating these cable thefts is the location of such charging equipment. Typically, chargers are installed in convenient places for drivers to slip in and out of. The same low-friction locations are good for thieves, of course. Golem also notes that many chargers are left available to the public in largely deserted supermarket parking lots overnight.
According to reports, the copper value of the wires in a single electric car charging cable is ~ €40 ($47). For illicit scrap, you would perhaps get a fraction of that. The repair cost to businesses is significantly more. These thefts will also put an affected station out of action for around two weeks.
Scumbags cut the DC cables from newly built EnBW charging station Rewe supermarket in Braunschweig GermanyI am so sick of this! 😡 pic.twitter.com/Osb2FjKykLAugust 30, 2025
EnBW has stepped up video surveillance at its stations, and Alpitronic has implemented a software update to quickly register a cable theft. These operational tweaks might improve things for customers, but neither measure is preventative. While it noted that there was no obvious solution to the plague of thefts, Golem’s story would benefit from a quote from the local Polizei.
Conspiracy alert – these chargers can be considered part of Germany’s critical infrastructure. With this in mind, the source report hints that there may be larger, more malign forces at work, than simple callous thieves. We may never know how true that is.
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