Will curb-side charging fall prey to vandals and miscreants?

As we were discussing an upcoming story related to a certain extended range EV with some colleagues the other day, a potentially serious problem for EVs came up. The primary market for plug-in vehicles for the foreseeable future will be urban areas where the range limitations of battery-powered cars figure to be less of an issue. However, if you look at the older residential areas in many cities, you will find that many homes don't have garages and people have to park on the street.

However, as we know, street parking carries with it certain risks. Break-ins and thefts are not at all uncommon, as are other misdemeanors like dragging keys along the paint. Now imagine the type of miscreant who would commit such an act when faced with several blocks and dozens of cars plugged into curbside chargers. Such an individual would likely be inclined to simply unplug all the cars as they walk by. Or worse.

You can put a locking fuel cap on an ICE vehicle to keep gas from being siphoned off. However, the proposed locking mechanisms on some of the charging couplers don't totally eliminate the possibility that someone might simply disconnect the cord. We're not sure what the solution is, but if this sort of thing were to happen on a wide scale, it's just another potential impediment to getting drivers to consider plug-in vehicles.