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VALLEJO, Calif. (KGO) — More than half a dozen Tesla Supercharger nozzles were cut and stolen at a charging station outside the Vallejo Target this past weekend.
It’s the latest case across the country where the charging nozzles have been cut and then taken.
Joshua Beckler recorded video showing the missing nozzles.
“Cut all the Tesla charging cables,” Beckler can be heard saying in the video. “You would think it’s a protest or some symbol of activism but it’s not, it’s the Bay Area!”
The video, posted by “KP Optima,” had more than 500,000 views on TikTok as of Monday night.
Tesla crews could be seen Monday fixing the stolen nozzles at the supercharger location behind the Target.
“I went to go to the gym with the wife. I went to park the Tesla to charge it while we were inside and I found that the majority of the Tesla cables had been cut right before we walked in,” Beckler told ABC7 News.
Nine charger nozzles were cut and stolen, nine others untouched, along with generators that were untouched.
“It’s crazy! Stupid! I don’t know why they’d do that,” Tesla driver Rhodalyn Gida said.
“Now that I hear it from you I’m shocked,” said Shara Nuqui, who was in her Tesla when ABC7 News spoke with her.
We broke the news to some Tesla drivers and even showed them the wires that had been cut after crews replaced them.
“This is what they cut here on the wire. What is your thought looking at this wire that was cut?” asked ABC7 News Reporter J.R. Stone.
“Is there copper in there? Somebody do it out of frustration with the mass layoffs that have been going on left and right?” responded R.J. Magayanes who drives a Tesla.
Beckler’s beliefs about what happened echo the talk online in light of recent incidents similar to this one across the country, including Houston.
“I used to run investigations for quite some time, 17 years for local retailers so it was a common sight to see generators stripped in the back of local retailers often for their copper,” Becker said. “So seeing there is a ton of copper in those cables and seeing that they had removed the cables and taken them with them as well as the junction block that had a ton of copper in it, then it’s pretty obvious that they went to go scrap it.”
The charging stations are in view of a parking lot surveillance camera but it’s unclear at this point if that camera captured any images to help in the investigation.
Vallejo police say they are looking into the online report submitted and no arrests have been made. Sources tell ABC7 News at least one other non-Tesla charger has been hit in recent weeks too.
Tesla did not return ABC7 News’ emails and Target did not respond regarding possible surveillance video.
If you’re on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live
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