The number of car thefts in North America went up by 2% in the first half of 2023. This is a bad sign for the rest of the year and the beginning of 2024. A careful look at the data shows an interesting exception: electric cars are stolen a lot less often than similar cars with internal combustion engines. This is the most likely reason why it happened.
More people are stealing cars
Up to 500,000 cars were reported stolen in the US in the first half of 2023, according to new data from Top Speed and the non-profit National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB). As was already said, this is a 2% rise from 2022 and almost the highest level of car theft ever recorded. In that year, 87,993 cars were reported stolen in May, making it the worst month overall. On average, over 80,000 cars are stolen every month in the United States. During that time, about one-fifth of all recorded stolen cars were in California. The ten worst states were Texas, Florida, Washington, Illinois, Colorado, New York, Ohio, Georgia, and Missouri.
The Highway Loss Statistics Institute released new data in April 2023 that looks at cars from the model years 2020–2022. The data shows that thieves are more interested in targeting cars with internal combustion engines than all-electric models like the Tesla Model 3. Popular (non-electric) cars like the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord, the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V, and full-size pickup trucks from GM, Ford, and Ram are often targeted by thieves. At the moment, there isn’t an electric type in the top ten most stolen cars.
When cars are stolen, what happens?
To figure out why hackers might not be interested in electronics, it’s important to know what drives them. In the past, it was okay to get away with stealing a car for its junk value by taking it to a company to be taken apart and its parts sold, etc. There is a greater chance, though, that the crooks, if they are well-organized, are trying to move the car and sell it as used in a different market abroad.
What Doesn’t They Like About Electric Cars?
Because of this, thieves should think about where they are trying to sell a stolen electric vehicle. Suppose they are shipping to a different continent, like South America, the Middle East, Africa, or another area. In that case, the local market doesn’t have the right infrastructure or support for electric vehicles. Instead, why steal a product for a market that doesn’t want it?
Top Speed also says that electric cars are often plugged into a charging station while they are parked in public. There is no way to unlock the car if the wire is cut. The system will recognize that the charging handle is still linked and lock it until the doors are locked. A thief would have a hard time with it.
Also, newer electric cars have built-in safety features that make it easy to keep an eye on them and even find out where they are, sometimes in real-time. Unlike “dumber” gas-powered cars, which may be built on old technology and can’t be connected and watched right away, many modern EVs let owners monitor or track their cars from afar, which could make someone less likely to steal them.
Because of this, you should not buy an electric car to protect yourself from car theft, but the information is now in your favor. It will be harder for thieves to take your electric car. Knowing this can at least make you feel better.
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