Electric vehicle drivers are undoubtedly exhausted by the vandalism that makes their journey from A to B significantly more difficult.
On the Reddit community r/MachE, a user posted a picture of an all too common occurrence at gas stations across the United States.
“The first charger we tried to charge today found this,” read the caption of the post above a picture of two Flo charging stations with all of their cables cut.
In addition to unusable charging stations, electric vehicle drivers also have to contend with cars running on dirty fuel taking up parking spaces that should be reserved for motorists who want to charge their vehicle’s battery. This practice, known as ICEing, is being carried out by drivers of gas-guzzling cars who are protesting the increasing presence of electric vehicles on the country’s roads.
On the surface, though, there’s not really much to protest about. The rise in electric vehicle numbers shouldn’t make much difference to drivers of conventional gasoline-powered vehicles – in fact, gas station pumps should be less busy, which should certainly help.
In addition, electric vehicles do not produce pollutant emissions, meaning they do not emit toxic, planet-warming gases. This is a win for the environment and reduces the risk of people developing respiratory or cardiovascular diseases from breathing dirty air.
Commenters on Reddit suggested that the motive for the vandalism may have been to sell the scrap metal found in the wiring, but not everyone was convinced by this theory.
“This is probably done by electric car haters,” said one Redditor. “They may have cut the entire cord, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re going to try to sell it as scrap.”
“This makes me so angry – no matter what someone’s political ideology is, nothing gives them the right to destroy property,” added another.
Thanks to U.S. government initiatives like the Inflation Reduction Act, it is now much more affordable to buy an electric car due to generous tax breaks and incentives. According to a Pew Research Center analysis, 64% of Americans now live within two miles of a public charging station, and the number of electric vehicle charging stations in the U.S. has doubled since 2020.
But even with more and more chargers available, it is still frustrating to come across a damaged charger.
However, if wireless charging of electric vehicles eventually becomes the norm, drivers will no longer have to worry about severed cables.
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