Copper Thieves Stole Our EV Charging Cables

Here at Lionus Media Group, we believe that offering free electric vehicle charging not only helps to save our employees wallets, but also helps to save our planet. Unfortunately, we were the victims of copper thieves who cut the cables from our chargers. Oh, hey, Lionus. Okay, two questions. One, when did this happen? And two, how long have you been in my trunk? Longer than I care to share. And in response to your first question, about a week ago, the police were able to offer their moral support. But when it comes to the cost of the repair, that basically falls on you, buddy. You know what? My car is not the only thing that needs a recharge. I'm going on vacation. What am I supposed to do? You're a smart guy. You'll figure it out. But what about our sponsor? That's no problem. Here's a free segway. Delete me. Did you know that it is totally legal for data brokers to take your personal information and just sell it as they see fit? So, take back control of your personal information by going to jointdeleteme.com/ltt20 or click the link down below. And just like that, we've got all new chargers from Ubiquiti Mahika. But wait, why did we have to get new stuff? Can't I just go and buy some cables from an electrician supply store and fix the chargers? Where's the DIY? Where's the tech tips? I totally agree, and I'm going to explain because EV chargers really should be easily repairable. After all, this isn't an isolated incident. EV chargers are increasingly targeted, whether it's for copper thief or ideological reasons. And if you just open up the panel, you can see the wiring on our level two charger is actually really simple. From a 240 volt breaker, we run power to these terminals, which connect to the charger's electronics that talk to EVs when plugged in. That communication activates the big switch called a contactor and sends current through the charging gun and the car or doesn't when nothing's plugged in, which is why the thieves were able to cut that hunk of copper without being electrocuted. Both cables could be replaced by an end user really easily. But when we called Grizzly to ask about getting new charging guns, we were told to detach the hardwired chargers, send them in at our expense, and buy a replacement cable and charging gun for $200 Canadian plus the cost of their labor. Now, it seems Grizzly used to offer replacement charging guns that end users could install themselves. and other third parties and OEMs still do sell these standard replacement plug heads in our region because the use of standard parts like this J1772 charging gun is a requirement for our local rebate program. But they're still around $200. So we just be saving on the labor and shipping costs if of course we value our time at zero. And unfortunately sourcing the odd four core EV cable isn't easy either. At our local electrician supply store, they told us to just talk to the charger manufacturer. Guess it isn't as easy as wiring up a few LT true spec cables. They're 240 W cables, guys, not bolts. Who wrote this? So, fixing this is almost half the cost of these $500 boxes. And with government rebates already covering some of the cost if we buy new stuff, it's just not really worth it. Time to break the news. I beg your pardon. It costs how much? Insurance isn't covering it? All out of pocket and we're replacing every charger. Uh, no. I don't think I want it anymore. Fortunately, there is a silver lining to all this. When we first bought our Grizzly Chargers, we wanted to go with Ubiquiti's UniFi EV Station Light, but they weren't covered under BC's rebate program at the time. Now they are. At $700, they cost a little more than our Grizzly chargers. But Ubiquiti was good enough to send over all the replacements we need, even if we'd had to pay for them. They do integrate better into our larger Unified network, and they solve a few of the gripes we had with the old system. So, what were those gripes? Well, the scheduling system for the Grizzlies uh went through Charge Lab and it was not the greatest. The only way to prevent people from using the chargers on the weekend was to set the lowest possible charging time at a random time during the day. So, I believe I had it set for 15 minutes at like 5:45 to 6:00 a.m. And that's because you can't turn it off completely. These new Ubiquiti ones, because we're already in Ubiquiti ecosystem, everybody uh uses Ubiquiti to get into the building. You just tap in when you want to charge and it keeps our neighbors from using the chargers while they're waiting for their children. The Ubiquiti chargers also have a stock power output that's 10 amps higher than the Grizzly chargers, which should translate into 20% faster charging if our breakers were 70 amps instead of 40. We've said this is a really simple install, and it is, but we're not electricians. So, we brought in some professional contractors to help with the install. We've also discovered another opportunity here. Ubiquity sent over seven of their Unifi EV Station light chargers. So, we're going to replace all six of the Grizzly chargers, including two that weren't cut. I guess there's just a limit to what a grown man can carry on his BMX bike. And finally, we have this Tesla charger here. Came with the building. We're going to leave it in place, meaning we have one extra ubiquity charger. Hallelujah. So, we're here at the studio building where we're going to put in a new charger, which is so awesome because we've had a crazy EV charging bottleneck over here. People have to move their cars around. It sucks. We didn't have the capacity to install more chargers here before, but there's a new transformer here now from a round of shop equipment upgrades. So, now we can. The actual charger we have over here is this older Seaman's one, which is getting kind of dated. So, we're going to take the grizzly ones that weren't damaged that are now available cuz we put ubiquies there over here to replace it. Aside from the new install, these new systems were really easy to put in. Wow, thanks. This is great. Oh, it's not working. Maybe a sensual massage. Oh, thanks. I knew you could do it, James. And you know what else I knew? Our sponsor. Delete me. Personally identifiable information like your name, email, home address, and even phone number. They're all out there somewhere, whether you like it or not. And data brokers are able to just swoop in and buy and sell this stuff for their own personal gain, which puts honest folks at risks of scams like fishing attempts or even doxing. There is a way though that you can scrub a ton of that information from data brokers and personal search sites, though. Delete Me is a hands-free subscription service that does exactly that. It gets rid of your personal information online so you can stay protected from these kinds of scams. They've been the leading face in the industry for over 15 years now, and the tech that they have been using is built inhouse so your data stays safe. Delete Me even verifies your data is on a data broker site before submitting removal requests, reducing the risk of unnecessary data exposure. And now you can get 20% off delete me consumer plans when you go to joindeleteme.com/LTT20 and use promo code LTT20 at checkout or you can use the QR code on the screen. Thanks for watching guys. If you like this video, maybe check out the one where Lions installed an EV charger at his house in his garage. That was a good one. And for now, my work here is done.