I have been advocating (along with a few other coworkers) for the parking garage at my work to install some EV charging stations. Their response was a hard no. However, they offered to arrange for a spot next to a normal outlet in the garage. My concern with this is mostly based on worrying about my charger being stolen. I have seen in previous threads that others use bike locks and/or padlocks to lock the cable to the wheel or locked in a loop around the tire. Does anybody have any firsthand experience similar to this? Is it common for people to tamper or steal the cables? The garage is really only for my building, but is accessible to the general public, which is my biggest concern.
If you are concerned, you could do what I do. I bought an extra used and cheap 120V charger on Ebay. I use it in public places and just use an extension cord (16A) and tuck the actual charger behind front driver tire so it isn't obvious (just extension cord to the tire and charging cord from the tire). Since it was cheap, I take the risk of theft and figure if someone steals it, I'll then decide if I want to keep risking a replacement...
I believe your fear is legit. I admit was a little uncomfortable during my vacation/roadtrip, leaving the car plugged in at hotel parking lots overnight when I had a couple opportunities to do so with my level 1 charger. Really i was risking a $400 item to save less than $3 worth of gas...I rolled the dice and won. Methinks crackheads are just not that smart yet about EV's -- I can see them diving under the car to saw off a catalytic converter to get their $30 worth of scrap, and leaving the expensive charger behind LOL. Not to many meth addicts with ebay accounts -- if only they knew they could steal that charger and list it on Ebay to "earn" the same amount of money as 15 catalytic converters...of course they wouldn't get the instant gratification of cash at the scrap yard!! I think it's a real risk. Cord is probably too thick to just keep the charger in the trunk and slam it shut, fed with an extension cord? Probably would hurt the trunk weatherstripping or the cord itself, eh? I have no good solution, but I understand your concern about security. You just gotta decide how safe the lot is for yourself and weigh the risk/reward benefit like Robert Alabama did...
I saw a picture of the Cable being locked to the charging port door latch. Simply place the locks U portion around the Cable and hook it through the latch. It's just a barrier to prevent easy theft.
The first few times I charged in the open I'd put the EVSE inside the car and run the wires through a crack in the driver window. Then I decided that not only was this a little trouble, but I was inviting damage to the car if someone really wanted to take it. Settled on just making it easy if someone really wanted to steal it, hopefully with no damage to the car. Replacing the charger is at most $150, fixing damage to the car is painful in time and aggravation and you're still out the cash for the charger.
There's a hole in the charger release switch that looks like it is designed to accept a small luggage style padlock that will elegantly keep the charger connected to your car to prevent simple walk-away theft. After a padlock is fed through, the release is jammed held in the lock position. This is what I'll use if we charge 110V publically.
