24 Tesla vehicle charging stations vandalized and their cables cut in the Decathlon car park in Béziers

The Tesla charging station park was installed in March 2023, in the Decathlon car park, in the Méridienne area in Béziers., Diane Petitmangin

L’ensemble des câbles d’alimentation des 24 bornes a été coupé net, vraisemblablement dans la nuit de lundi à mardi. Diane Petitmangin

The incident apparently occurred during the night from Monday to Tuesday. The power cables that allow the vehicles to be recharged were cut. Probably because of their copper, even if the quantity is tiny.

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“In top shape!”, says the advertising slogan of a famous sports equipment brand. “Not always!”, could echo the Tesla electric car charging stations installed in the Decathlon car park, in the ZAC de la Méridienne, in Béziers.

The 24 devices were, in fact, vandalized, apparently during the night of Monday 9 to Tuesday 10 December, and the charging cables were properly cut. A stupid and mean act, pure gratuitous vandalism ? Not necessarily. “Even if the copper is in tiny quantities, it looks like a theft to appropriate this material”, relates an employee of the Tesla Montpellier company, who came to see the damage and repair it.

Copper that arouses covetousness

Unlike other electric vehicle charging stations – several are installed in the parking lot next to the Tesla one – where owners must bring their own cable to plug in and recharge their battery, the stations of Elon Musk's brand are equipped with the famous cable. An appreciable service but which, apparently, arouses covetousness. Especially since the industrial and commercial area of ​​La Méridienne is not very busy at night.

Rather than a gratuitous act, the vandals are probably looking for the copper contained in these cables. Diane Petitmangin

A complaint has, in any case, been filed and some of the 24 terminals installed in March 2023 should be repaired by this Thursday evening and all of them by Friday evening. Will it be necessary to set up a targeted camera surveillance system ? That's the whole question…

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