7 January 2026. The 8 p.m. news on TF1, in prime time.
For the first time, a problem that directly affects our sector was covered openly: the vandalism of charging infrastructure, and cable theft in particular.
Across Europe, and especially in France, this practice — largely driven by the value of copper and its surge in recent months — is intensifying. It now has a concrete impact on the operation of charging networks, on availability for users and, ultimately, on the credibility of the electric transition.
At Yusco, we are directly exposed to it.
The Valenciennes station was vandalised three times in the space of ten days. Then another, and another — that one before the station had even opened to the public.
Beyond the immediate material cost, the impacts are manifold:
- instant unavailability of the chargers and a degraded customer experience;
- operating losses, and questions raised over the bankability and financing capacity of certain projects;
- and, more insidiously still, damage to the perceived reliability of the network and to the case for electrifying the transport sector.
Vandalism is no longer an isolated incident: it is a structural parameter of our operating and financing models. An issue that concerns all of us.
Contrary to some received wisdom, acts of vandalism are rarely spontaneous.
They are most often the work of organised networks — fast, targeted operations concentrated on identified areas: major road corridors, low-visibility sites, car parks left open at night.
In France, the phenomenon has intensified with the rise of fast and ultra-fast DC networks, whose cables are thicker, more visible and more attractive. One telling figure: nearly a third of all acts of vandalism on charging infrastructure in 2025 occurred in the final quarter. A worrying trend.
Faced with this reality, there is no single solution.
At Yusco, as at many CPOs, the approach has to be pragmatic, iterative and above all coordinated. To fight this scourge, we are taking a multi-channel approach:
In the short term:
- following discussions with our charger suppliers, we will move to reinforced cable sleeves — Kevlar over a steel mesh — with forensic marking fluid (DNA tracing) and GPS tracking;
- we will likewise generalise the use of video surveillance and communicate through stickers about site monitoring and cable protection.
These measures do not remove the risk, but they help reduce the appeal and increase the difficulty of theft. A word of caution: it would be wrong to believe only ultra-fast chargers are vandalised. Just this week, several energy authorities discovered that their 50 kW chargers — isolated ones at that — had been vandalised.
In the medium term:
Other levers exist, relying on technological deterrence and more.
- The first? Alerting. Audible alarms triggered on cutting, built into the cable (current loop) or into the main low-voltage switchboard (TGBT, the heart of the electrical installation), backed by OCPP messages (the standard charger communication protocol) sent from the charger to Yusco's supervision system;
- The second: prevention. We are going to deploy AI processing to trigger an alarm before the cable is even cut, based on suspicious behaviour detected through video surveillance (blunt instruments, hooded individuals);
- The last: pooling between players, notably through working groups sharing alerts, a heatmap of at-risk areas and common lessons learned — and even lobbying public authorities regarding the channels that fence stolen cable.
One thing we are certain of: doing nothing is not the answer.
- In our view, leaving a station with severed cables in place to raise customer awareness is a misjudgement: vandalism is — and is becoming — part and parcel of our business. We have to deal with it.
- The CPO must pair its mitigation measures with optimised maintenance, keeping spare cables in stock, in order to minimise station downtime.
In every case, we should also draw on what is being done elsewhere in Europe:
- In the Nordic countries: the region is less affected by vandalism, thanks in particular to prevention through station design, with sites often integrated into busy locations — the idea being to pool surveillance systems;
- In Germany and the Netherlands: close collaboration has been established between CPOs, local authorities and insurers, with anti-vandalism standards built in from the design stage (such as cooled cables — less copper, but more expensive — or simply shorter ones);
- Finally, in the United Kingdom, we see reinforced partnerships with local police forces.
There will be no single solution.
The answer has to come from a combination of levers spanning design, technology, operations and cooperation.
This is an issue for the entire industry, and one on which CPOs are learning fast — and, above all, learning together. So let us put it on the table: we are offering to build these kinds of solutions with you, whether you are a CPO, a supplier or an entrepreneur:
- have you tried solutions that work?
- do you have field feedback, in France or abroad?
- are you testing different approaches (design, legal, insurance, territorial) worth sharing?
- and above all: would you like to join us in this thinking?
The discussion is open.
Find out more: yusco.io