Valuable copper in EV charging stations a favorite target for thieves

Nine Tesla EV charging stations in California appear to have been vandalized in an effort to steal valuable copper.

The incident happened over the weekend outside of a Target store in the city of Vallejo.

The culprits were going after the thick copper inside of the cable that connects electric vehicles to the charging stations.

The apparent vandalism was posted to TikTok, and the man who posted the video shows the thick copper inside one of the cut cables.

Josh Beckler, a retired Marine and former investigator for a hardware chain, was out with his wife Sunday morning when the pair discovered the damage, NBC Bay Area reports.

A resident of the area told NBC that such incidents happened at that location before. Tesla repaired the damage by Monday, according to NBC.

There have been other reports of copper thieves targeting EV chargers, including incidents in Houston and Seattle.