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Well over 80,000 public EV charging devices have now been installed all across the UK, and it’s trending upwards. These are particularly high-value yet largely unguarded assets. Many of them are in commercial car parks where vehicle movement is constant, and damage comes from careless parking. Speed bumps and parking blocks are where physical protection has to begin, particularly in parking lots that suffer from frequent accidental collisions. But, this article looks at the full range of solutions.
Bollards and impact-resistant barriers
Speed bumps slow vehicles down, but chargers themselves also need dedicated physical protection around each unit.
Steel-capped bollards tend to be the default choice, but flexible rebounding variants are worth considering for high-traffic bays. They absorb low-speed contact without snapping, and won’t cause secondary bodywork damage. These are complementary to the speed bumps.
For larger installations, Armco barriers have more perimeter-level protection at a greater scale – it guards the entire charging bays rather than individual units.
Placement matters a lot, so consider that flanking both sides of a charge point creates a proper protective envelope.
Anti-theft cable and hardware security
Physical barriers mitigate accidental damage, but it won’t stop targeted theft. EV charger vandalism more than doubled in 2024. The motive is usually just the copper cables as they can be sold on.
Cable holsters, locking wall brackets, and retractable cable reel posts are all practical hardware defence options. Masterlock’s EV cable lock range is very well established, with Meridian EV cable management posts being a stronger fit for multi-unit commercial installs. Tamper-resistant fixings are needed, and the same goes for warehouses and fleet depots, where chargers are even more powerful yet even more isolated.
Smart surveillance and access control
If it’s going to bring a positive return on investment, CCTV needs to be a deterrent, not just for reviewing footage after something goes wrong. Research found that car park crime fell by 37% overall in areas with CCTV. In other words, don’t just put the cameras up – shout about it too with plenty of signs confirming CCTV is in operation.
ANPR cameras are particularly suited to charging sites. Systems from Axis Communications and Hikvision log every vehicle entering the zone and provide a retrievable record for theft investigations and disputes. They’re very quick at retrieving such time-stamped info.
Motion-activated lighting running alongside the cameras can be a further deterrent. Philips Hue Outdoor and Lutec LED security ranges are very cost-effective that will improve camera quality after dark. After all, most cable theft occurs at night.
RFID and app-based access control is a fantastic solution as it doubles up with other benefits, like traffic flow and general site security. They could be integrated into OZEV-compliant smart chargers for a final layer by restricting who can initiate a charging session at all.
EV charging stations cost a lot of money to install because they contain valuable assets. No single solution is enough, but sites that see repeat incidents will find it worthy of further investment. Much of the damage is often accidental, and therefore speed bumps and barriers can be highly effective passive measures. But, these should be doubled up with deterrents like CCTV and better lighting. Audit your site now, before an incident does it for you.
Picturecredits pexels.com
Author: Lena Becker
Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.
