The Washington state House Committee on Transportation on Thursday, April 3, heard testimony from Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, in support of a bill that would create a government advisory board to address property crimes against electric vehicle charging stations.
Engrossed Senate Bill 5746 mandates that the Electric Vehicle Coordinating Council create a new advisory board or assign a current one that would operate through July 1, 2027. The goal of the board is to assemble relevant stakeholders to develop ways to better secure charging sites and protect them from damage.
“We’re talking about disabling a very important part of our infrastructure,” Wilson, who is the bill’s primary sponsor, said. “It’s incredibly difficult to push an electric car to the next charging station. Therefore, if that cord isn't there, that is rendered useless to us.”
The Electric Vehicle Coordinating Council was first established in 2022 to spearhead efforts to improve electric vehicle infrastructure in the state of Washington. Its new entity could include members of the state attorney general’s office and law enforcement professionals, representatives of cities and counties that have been impacted by charging station damage, representatives from relevant industries and other professionals or citizens affected by the crimes.
Wilson testified not only as the sponsoring senator but also as an owner of an electric vehicle who has faced challenges with charging infrastructure.
“I have pulled into an electric vehicle charging station and found that they were inoperable,” Wilson said. “And the panic that goes through that … I can't go down and get a 5-gallon can of kilowatts and run down and top my electric car off.”
The committee asked if Wilson knew if the motives for these crimes were attacks against a certain brand or if perpetrators were targeting valuable metals within the charging cords, such as copper wire.
“Unfortunately I would say it's an accumulation of a number of, well, bad activities. It could be somebody wishing just to vandalize or to make a statement but, yes, in fact … it recognizes that those cords consist of copper and aluminium and it somewhat is a target for recyclers or another market.”
Copper wire theft and theft of other valuable metals such as steel and aluminum has been rising at Washington State Department of Transportation properties, according to the department's website, and they are not the only ones affected.
Last March, a Puget Sound Electric EV charging site was vandalized shortly after opening with many of the cords being stolen, according to the energy company. Laws attempting to limit metal theft go as far back as 2007 when the Legislature passed Senate Bill 5312 increasing the penalty for those found guilty of stealing metals.
Tesla sites specifically have been regularly targeted since the beginning of 2025, primarily in political opposition to the company's CEO Elon Musk and his new position in the U.S. federal government. Musk, who was a major donor to President Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, was hired in January as a special government employee leading the U.S. government's new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been tasked with shrinking the federal government.
Tesla charging stations in Centralia and Chehalis were among those vandalized at the beginning of March. An unidentified man reportedly spray painted the phrases “Burn Nazi cars” and “Kill Elon” on the charging station in Centralia and damaged the station's electrical transformer, rendering the site inoperable.
The events triggered independent investigations by both the Chehalis and Centralia police departments as well as the FBI, according to previous reporting by the Chronicle.
Wilson has worked on similar legislation in past years that addressed widespread theft of catalytic converters and attempted to regulate the sale of the converters as well as the precious metals inside.
Wilson was the primary sponsor of a 2023 bill that created a new class B felony charge for "trafficking in catalytic converters.” However, Wilson says this situation is different as charging sites are easier to target and the damage is often politically motivated.
“I don't believe people would cut out somebody’s catalytic converter to make a political statement or just for vandalism,” Wilson said. “This is where the EV charging stations and the equipment becomes more vulnerable, because it’s out there and it’s accessible.”
