I was under the impression most car thefts were already to chop them up for parts anyway so this doesn't seem like a new incentive.

Wait till the stories come out about criminals discovery what an extremely low impedance source of 700V does to your body.

EV batteries are becoming STRUCTURAL, meaning they make up the core vehicle shell of the car, use hardened steel reinforcement and weight 1-2K pounds. They're also super dangerous if punctured. It would be easier to steal the whole vehicle than to steal the battery alone.

I'd go so far as to say that an EV is a glorified "battery with wheels" since the actual drive components are a minority of the weight/complexity/cost. If a criminal can steal the whole EV, they will, if they cannot then stealing the battery alone isn't realistic.

It’s THOUSANDS of pounds. It’s not a trivial operation.

It may happen, but it will never be anywhere near as common as cat theft.

One is safe, trivial, fast, and pays a lot. The other is extremely difficult, possibly lethal, and can’t easily be melted down for profit like a cat.

Really? I'm pretty sure I have the tools in my garage to steal 4 wheels with locking nuts. I'm absolutely certain I couldn't steal the battery in my EV without stealing the whole EV. Which has a GPS tracker built into it.

Let's say you get the battery out by unbolting it in a short amount of time. You'd have to let it drop onto something to then remove it from the car. In one video a person used 2x4s then pulled it out with another vehicle.

Now what? How do you get it into another vehicle to transport? There's no place for a small crane to attach to. You would need some sort of hydraulic lift that would be similar to a pallet jack. Once it's up you then need to move it onto the truck which would be difficult. Maybe you can drag it on the back of a truck using a pickup bed mounted winch.

Finally what do you do with it? It's nearly impossible to remove the individual cells, they are incased in some sort of protective foam that you have to chisel out. Sell the entire thing? Tesla will know the battery is stolen, car reads the serial number, bam, back to you.

Not to mention how large it is, how many could you do in one night?

More importantly why did you make your post? Do you have EVs so much that anytime even a slight advantage comes along you have to dispute it? Maybe you just like to argue. It's just really weird.

Nobody is jacking up a car to get to the cat. You just slide under with a $50 harbor freight sawzall and spend two minutes making two cuts.