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It’s difficult enough owning an EV without having a home garage in which to charge it. With more EVs being owned by urban apartment dwellers, we’re increasingly hearing stories about late night charging incidents. Some of it is due to ambiguous public charger listings on charger apps and some is due to added security in response to charger cable thefts.
There has been a lot of discussion on social media about awkward and disturbing experiences while charging EVs at night. Here’s a recent post on Reddit by ItsTh3Mailman with a lot of responses from other EV drivers sharing their experiences and advice.
“Last night, I went to charge it at a DC fast charger that’s listed as public on the ChargePoint app. The charger is located at a local car dealership, and I paid for the charging session just like any other customer would.
Tonight, I returned around 9:00 PM to charge again. This is probably going to be my regular time to charge since it’s convenient while my fiancé and I wind down and the baby is asleep.
Both times I charged, the police were called.
The first night was a quick interaction. I explained to the officer that I was actively charging and paying for the session, and they left without issue. Tonight, however, was a different story. The responding officer acted like I had no right to be on the property and threatened to arrest me until I showed proof that I was paying to use the charger.
These chargers are marked as public, and it looks like the dealership is in the process of installing even more, so I assume they’re expecting increased use. There is no signage anywhere stating that the chargers are off-limits after hours or that the lot is restricted at night.
I’ve already contacted ChargePoint support, and they confirmed that the station is public. They’ve also escalated the issue to their internal team to help get the situation resolved.
I plan to call the dealership tomorrow, because it seems like their alarm or security company isn’t aware that people are allowed to access these chargers after business hours. If you’re going to list chargers as public, it’s important your security setup reflects that.”
MarthaTheBuilder commented that accepting a grant can force the charger owner to make it public:
“So I believe these car dealerships needed to make the chargers public to get grants for the installation. They likely don’t want you there after hours and probably want to make it difficult. But if they took the grant money, they likely signed stuff with the state or federal gov proving these are public access. Their insurance underwriter probably is not happy the lots are now open to the public after hours.”
Sagrilarus observed that racial bias could add to the risk:
“I have run into this too, in broad daylight on Sundays when the dealer is closed. I’m an old white guy so I shook it off, but someday Seargent Bubba is going to show up and do something stupid because a minority is paying to use a public facility on the property.”
Demand for Charging Clashes with a Need for Security
The demand for late night charging at public stations is clashing with the need for added security for EV chargers. There is a public charging cable theft trend that can be seen around the country. One example in Seattle captures the pattern. Thieves pull up to public chargers, cut several cables in minutes, and leave with copper wiring. Another example is Houston which moved from no known cases to multiple thefts in a short window, including a hit that removed nearly every cord at a high-capacity site.
Electrify America, one of the largest public EV fast-charging networks in the U.S., reports a sharp rise in charge cable cuts, moving from rare incidents to triple digit cases through May of this year across a network of hundreds of stations and thousands of plugs. One Seattle site lost cables six times in a year. Other large public EV charging network providers, EVgo and Flo, report similar issues.
Local police confirm rising case counts in Washington, Nevada, California, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Pennsylvania. Tesla sites in Seattle, Oakland, and Houston were also hit. Rural towns haven’t been spared.
The price of copper is reaching record highs and EV charger cables are made of copper. Copper peaked at almost $6 per pound in July, up about 30% year over year. The record price for copper is fueling a fast, repeatable crime that knocks entire EV charging sites offline. Each charging cable yields little metal and nets roughly $15 to $20 at scrap yards. Replacing stolen charging cables creates a real problem, as they tend to cost about $1,000 per cord with labor. This adds up quickly at sites with multiple plugs.
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EV charging network providers are adding cameras and working with police and recyclers. Scrap yards receive alerts, yet identification remains difficult because thieves strip insulation. Many chargers sit in remote corners of parking lots, so operators and property owners are weighing more lighting, more surveillance, and design changes that harden cables. Police in affected cities pursue leads as repairs continue.
Major Retailers to the Rescue
Many of the public charging stations exhibiting signs of late-night security problems were chargers installed during the first wave from 2000 to 2025. They mostly represent a hodge podge of poorly thought-out installations. The good news is that the early installations showed that there is tremendous demand for public chargers to the extent that we are now witnessing a much larger second wave of public EV chargers being installed. A lot of new public charger infrastructure is being installed by major U.S. retailers.
Retailers want to capture customer dwell time, grow basket size, and build loyalty. EV fast charging can turn a routine store visit into a purposeful thirty-minute stop that supports food purchases, pharmacy pickups, and quick household shopping. Charging also positions the brand as forward looking, which matters in competitive convenience and warehouse formats. Leaders explain their investment in chargers in practical terms, make EV ownership more accessible, reliable, convenient, and affordable, and bring highway-based charging to regions where infrastructure is needed. These priorities link together store traffic and improved customer experience.
Walmart, Costco, and several convenience store chains are installing fast charging where shoppers already linger. To start with the big players, Walmart began company owned pilots in Texas and Arkansas, with a stated goal to scale across most Walmart and Sam’s Club locations. Costco tested a battery buffered site in North Port, Florida, and has activity reported in its home turf, the Pacific Northwest.
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a new public charging company in town. Headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, IONNA is an automaker-backed EV fast-charging company building a new, open, high-power network across North America. It began operations in 2024 and plans at least 30,000 charging bays by 2030. It’s supported by eight automakers—BMW, GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, and Toyota—and markets its stations as “Rechargeries.”
Royal Farms, a company that operates over 250 convenience stores in the Northeast, is starting installations in at least twenty Maryland locations, while Wawa starts in Florida through a partnership with IONNA. Midwest coverage is growing through Kwik Trip in Wisconsin. Western corridors gain from Jacksons in California, Idaho, and Washington. Highway travelers will see expansion at Pilot Flying J and Love’s across multiple states.
The Retail Charging Projections are Huge
Walmart targets thousands of chargers by 2030, using hardware from Alpitronic and ABB with CCS and NACS connectors. IONNA, the Wawa partner, aims for about thirty thousand charging bays across North America by 2030. Royal Farms plans at least twenty Maryland locations with Electrify America’s hyper fast units. Pilot Flying J, with GM and EVgo, plans up to two thousand stalls at as many as five hundred travel centers. Love’s reports already having more than one hundred chargers at dozens of sites with further growth this year. Kwik Trip expects roughly two dozen NEVI funded sites. Jacksons launched nine initial stores.
Addressing Late-Night Charging
Travel centers such as Pilot Flying J and Love’s emphasize staffed, twenty-four-hour access that supports cross country trips. Many convenience stores, including Royal Farms and Jacksons, operate around the clock, enabling consistent charging availability. Big box pilots vary by location because access can follow store hours or local property rules.
Bottom Line
Retail charging is evolving from scattered pilots to a regional strategy that mirrors shopping patterns and highway travel. Big box leaders seek to anchor neighborhood coverage, convenience chains want to stitch together metro and small-town gaps, and travel centers secure interstate routes with twenty-four-hour access. Hardware partners range from Electrify America and EVgo to IONNA and site-specific integrators, which spreads risk and accelerates builds. The shared outcome should be a simpler charging stop that will feel like a normal errand, which is the kind of reliability that helps drivers choose electric with confidence.
Please Drop Your Thoughts in the Comments Below
Have you been told to leave a “public” charger after hours, what did the signage actually say?
Have chargers near you lost cables to theft, how long did repairs take before the site came back online?
Chris Johnston is the author of SAE’s comprehensive book on electric vehicles, “The Arrival of The Electric Car.” His coverage on Torque News focuses on electric vehicles. Chris has decades of product management experience in telematics, mobile computing, and wireless communications. Chris has a B.S. in electrical engineering from Purdue University and an MBA. He lives in Seattle. When not working, Chris enjoys restoring classic wooden boats, open water swimming, cycling and flying (as a private pilot). You can connect with Chris on LinkedIn and follow his work on X at ChrisJohnstonEV.
Image sources: AI, EVgo media kit
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Source: torquenews.com
