A charger is expensive equipment left unattended in a public place, often overnight, containing copper. Three things happen to it: the cable gets stolen, the unit gets damaged, and the bay gets occupied by something that is not charging. Only the third is reversible for free.
Cable theft
Charging cables carry a meaningful amount of copper and cut in seconds. Theft is concentrated at unlit, unmonitored sites and overwhelmingly overnight. The countermeasures, in order of cost-effectiveness:
- 01Light. An illuminated bay is a dramatically less attractive target and lighting is cheap compared to a DC cable assembly.
- 02Locking holsters that hold the connector mechanically when idle. They also solve the dragged-cable problem, so they earn their cost twice.
- 03Camera coverage that actually points at the units, and a sign saying so. The sign does more work than the camera.
- 04Cable-cut detection. A unit that reports a fault the moment the cable is severed at least tells you at three in the morning instead of at nine.
What is not worth it: armoured cable, which does not exist in a form drivers will handle, and overnight guards at anything short of a very large site.
Vandalism and accidental damage
Most of what gets recorded as vandalism is a reversing vehicle. Bollards in front of the unit are the single highest-return item on any site build, and they are routinely value-engineered out at the quotation stage.
Blocked bays
The most common form of "the charger is not available" is that a vehicle is parked in the bay and not charging. It is not a hardware problem and no amount of remote diagnostics will find it — the unit reports Available, correctly, and no driver can use it.
- Signage and floor marking that make the bay unambiguous. Most blocking is honest confusion.
- Idle fees, which move the EV drivers who have finished charging but not the petrol car that never plugged in.
- Enforcement, which is the host’s job and needs to be written into the agreement rather than assumed.
- A way for a driver to report it. A blocked-bay report from a driver is the only detection mechanism that works, and most networks have no way to receive one.
Put it in the host agreement
Lighting, camera coverage, bay enforcement and access hours all belong to the host, not to you. Agree them at signing, in writing, and exclude them from any uptime commitment you give. A charger unavailable because the host locked the gate is not an availability failure you can be held to.