澳大利亚电动汽车充电基础设施正面临日益严重的铜线盗窃问题。[1]犯罪分子针对公共充电器进行切割盗取，牟取其内部铜缆。[1]随着废旧金属价格上涨，这类犯罪案件大幅增长——维多利亚州2025年共有2592起铜线和废旧金属盗窃案件，较2016年的998起明显增长；新南威尔士州也从2019年的612起增至879起。[1]伦敦金属交易所铜价目前为每吨13,732.50美元，即每公斤13.73美元（约19.62澳元），而典型直流充电器电缆含铜2至4公斤。[1]
新州警方近期逮捕一名男子，指控其涉及纽卡斯尔至戈斯福德地区充电站的10项盗窃罪和11项破坏财产罪，缴获17个充电插头、切割工具和大量剥离的电缆。[1]电动汽车行业采取多项防范措施应对威胁，包括加强监控、改进照明、安装防护套管以及建立跨企业信息共享机制，行业企业间已开始共享被盗窃站点信息、事件监控录像和警方案件编号。[1]
Evie Networks首席运营官Geoff Brady表示，"EV充电器是这种老犯罪的新前沿"。[1]他指出，虽然单次盗窃的铜价值相对较小，但其影响深远——"客户体验是受害者，因为人们在需要充电时无法充电，因为站点会离线一段时间"。[1]
Australia's electric vehicle charging network is facing a surge in cable theft as criminals target public chargers for their valuable copper components. In Victoria, copper and scrap metal theft cases reached 2,592 in 2025, a significant rise from 998 cases in 2016, while New South Wales recorded 879 incidents compared to 612 in 2019.[1] The escalating thefts are driven by rising copper prices, with the London Metal Exchange listing copper at USD 13,732.50 per tonne, equivalent to AUD 19.62 per kilogram.[1] A typical direct current charger cable contains between 2 and 4 kilograms of copper, making these installations attractive targets.[1]
Law enforcement has begun responding to the criminal activity. New South Wales police arrested a man accused of 10 counts of theft and 11 counts of destruction of property relating to charging stations across the Newcastle to Gosford region, recovering 17 charging plugs, cutting tools, and substantial quantities of stripped cable.[1] The EV industry is implementing defensive measures to combat the thefts, including enhanced surveillance, improved lighting, protective conduits, and cross-company information sharing about targeted sites, incident footage, and police case numbers.[1] According to Geoff Brady, Chief Operating Officer of Evie Networks, "EV chargers are the new frontier of this old crime."[1] Brady further noted that while the copper itself has limited value, the real impact falls on customers: "The customer experience is the victim, because although the copper value is small, the impact is people can't charge when they need to charge because the site is offline for a period of time."[1]