Australian EV charging operators report rising copper theft as scrap metal prices climb

Copper theft targeting public EV chargers has surged across Australia, with Victoria recording 2,592 scrap metal theft incidents in 2025, up from 998 in 2016, while NSW logged 879 copper theft cases, up from 612 in 2019. Evie Networks and other charge point operators are deploying cameras and sharing intelligence across the industry to combat vandalism, shifting from reactive cable replacement to layered prevention strategies.

Why it matters: Rising copper theft adds unplanned maintenance costs and downtime for CPOs, forcing operators to budget for enhanced security infrastructure and hardened cable designs. Cross industry collaboration on anti theft measures may influence future procurement specifications for vandal resistant charging hardware.