Battery Theft

[Maxx]

Just out of boredom I was thinking how easy/difficult is it to drop the battery while the car is parked and roll it out? Prius gets it’s oxygen sensors stolen frequent and the value of that is not even a fraction of Lightning battery. They may need a Cybertruck payload to drive it away though. Should we be worried?

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[techguydave]

I personally wouldn't be worried. They'd be better off stealing the whole truck than trying to remove the battery.

 

[3DogKnight]

I personally wouldn't be worried. They'd be better off stealing the whole truck than trying to remove the battery.

Thieves are not that bright. Most have an IQ of 2.

 

[Maxx]

Thieves are not that bright. Most have an IQ of 2.

And the bright ones may know that trucks (especially Pro) may be tracked but batteries won’t.

 

[3DogKnight]

And the bright ones may know that trucks (especially Pro) may be tracked but batteries won’t.

True

 

[ChasingCoral]

It requires a lift for the truck and a specialized mobile lift for the battery. Not something you can do in a parking lot.

 

[Pedaldude]

...Prius gets it’s oxygen sensors stolen frequent...

It's the entire catalytic converters being stolen from Priuses, if the O2 sensors are stolen, it's incidental to the cat theft:

At first it was for the Platinum Group metals that they use in the Prius, which is more than the average car. Later on the thefts started feeding themselves because of the demand for used Prius catalytic converters and now stolen Prius converters sell for far more than their scrap value.

It requires a lift for the truck and a specialized mobile lift for the battery. Not something you can do in a parking lot.

Don't underestimate the ingenuity of some motivated individuals with a bottle jack and some cardboard, I doubt that the shop hours quoted for removal of a Prius converter matches that seen on the streets. Also don't forget the thieves aren't worried about damage to the donor vehicle or OSHA regs.

While EV Lightning trucks are still newish, there likely won't be much demand for stolen batteries, though as the trucks age and demand for replacement batteries reach a certain threshold, there will be thefts, either street level quick and dirty ones or professional ones where entire stolen trucks hit chop shops. It only costs a hundred bucks in change to get the shop manual and learn how to disable the connected features that the new trucks have rendering tracking features the same as a 1995 Honda Civic.

With the high demand for the new Lightning, it won't be surprising to also see them being stolen and sent overseas by professional theft rings which will be far more likely than the battery getting jacked.

 

[astricklin]

Speaking of theft I hope more automakers implement a 'pin to drive' feature as Tesla has done. Then even if someone is able to access the vehicle and turn on the ignition, they still won't be able to drive the vehicle.

 

[Maxx]

Speaking of theft I hope more automakers implement a 'pin to drive' feature as Tesla has done. Then even if someone is able to access the vehicle and turn on the ignition, they still won't be able to drive the vehicle.

You just added kidnapping to the bad guy‘s checklist. They can’t just put a gun to your head and get your pin and leave. They have to blindfold you , tie you up and dump you in middle of nowhere so they have time to chop the truck. That is if they are worried about murder charge.

 

[EVBill]

It only costs a hundred bucks in change to get the shop manual and learn how to disable the connected features that the new trucks have rendering tracking features the same as a 1995 Honda Civic.

Shop manual for my 2017 Volt is $800, 4x the price of an ICE vehicle Hopefully this improves with other vehicles going forward.

 

[Maxx]

though as the trucks age and demand for replacement batteries reach a certain threshold, there will be thefts, either street level quick and dirty ones or professional ones where entire stolen trucks hit chop shops

Tesla is charging $16K-$20K to replace packs half the size of lightning. People that buy used EVs won’t pay that much just a year into the ownership when a cell fails. They find these underground shops to do the job for less than half and everybody is happy except the original owner and new buyers whose insurance rates got bumped up.

 

[Maxx]

It requires a lift for the truck and a specialized mobile lift for the battery. Not something you can do in a parking lot.

I am sure some of these people could adapt if they need a side hustle:

 

[astricklin]

You just added kidnapping to the bad guy‘s checklist. They can’t just put a gun to your head and get your pin and leave. They have to blindfold you , tie you up and dump you in middle of nowhere so they have time to chop the truck. That is if they are worried about murder charge.

Why don't regular vehicle theives just murder you and take the keys? Shit...why not just start carjacking people if I really want to easily steal a car. It's already on and running.
Oh right, they don't want to get caught so the less interaction with other people the better.

I would imagine that most people are either in their homes asleep, or nowhere near their vehicle when it gets stolen. Why would someone wanting to steal a car go through the trouble of breaking onto your home and attempting to extort/torture the passcode out of you. They want to get into the vehicle and get away with it as quickly as possible. If they don't have a tow truck to just tow it away and they can't quickly access the vehicle and drive it away, then they are just going to move on to another vehicle. It's like the 'club'. Make it one step harder to steal and they are going to move on.

The thing with catalytic converter theft is that it is fairly quick. They can cut it off and carry it away in a few minutes at most. The battery is going to be much more complicated to remove so it's not going to be a target to steal just the battery, they are going to need time and special equipment to be able to do it.

 

[Maxx]

Why don't regular vehicle theives just murder you and take the keys? Shit...why not just start carjacking people if I really want to easily steal a car. It's already on and running.
Oh right, they don't want to get caught so the less interaction with other people the better.

I would imagine that most people are either in their homes asleep, or nowhere near their vehicle when it gets stolen. Why would someone wanting to steal a car go through the trouble of breaking onto your home and attempting to extort/torture the passcode out of you. They want to get into the vehicle and get away with it as quickly as possible. If they don't have a tow truck to just tow it away and they can't quickly access the vehicle and drive it away, then they are just going to move on to another vehicle. It's like the 'club'. Make it one step harder to steal and they are going to move on.

The thing with catalytic converter theft is that it is fairly quick. They can cut it off and carry it away in a few minutes at most. The battery is going to be much more complicated to remove so it's not going to be a target to steal just the battery, they are going to need time and special equipment to be able to do it.

I was being a bit dramatic. I agree with your general point that car jacking like most illegal activities is about maximizing reward/risk ratio. All I am saying is that batteries increase the reward so I would not be surprised if car jackers are willing to take more risk. Although most as you said like to reduce friction, that is not necessarily the case with all:
https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/tesla-foils-navy-sailor-carjacker-attempt

As cars become more of a laptop over wheels, bad guys will try to reduce risk by hacking more than kidnapping and it will be more of the battle of the nerds rather than the tough guys:
https://electrek.co/2021/11/11/tesla-owners-warned-police-targeted-professional-thieves/

 

[jefro]

Put air bags in suspension. Then lower it to the ground each time you park it.


My wife took her 3/4 ton diesel 4x4 to the border. I told her how to put it into neutral transfer case. She was like why?? I said, "Because it would have been across the border in 20 seconds if she didn't".
Kinda like Detroit but in Spanish. Gone!

I like the guys in California that were stealing the cars, stripping them and eventually buying the shell back at auction. Then they'd put the parts back on and sell.

Seems that jury's don't bother giving car thieves much of a sentence.

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