EV charger sales pulled amid warnings of national security threat

AN ELECTRIC vehicle charger has been pulled from sale amid warnings that hostile foreign hackers could use the devices as a “weapon” to cause electricity blackouts.

The charger company Wallbox has been told by the Office for Product Safety and Standards, the consumer safety regulator, that its Copper SB electric car charger does not comply with cybersecurity laws. This means it cannot be sold because it cannot be properly secured against hackers.

Critics say continued sales of the Copper SB, which retails for about £500, risks hostile nations disrupting the UK’S critical national infrastructure. Wallbox has sold close to 40,000 electric car chargers in Britain, but it is not known how many are the affected model. Chargers already installed in homes are not being recalled.

Ken Munro of the cybersecurity company Pen Test Partners said: “The electric vehicle charging industry has inadvertently created a weapon that hostile foreign powers and others could use to destabilise our power grid.

“A lack of appropriate cybersecurity has left us all exposed to blackouts.” Despite the regulator’s intervention, Wallbox is allowed to carry on selling its charger until the end of June. Wallbox’s Copper SB charger can be connected to the internet and operated through a smartphone app, letting motorists remotely turn it on or off. But this convenient internet access can allow hackers to find a software flaw in the charger, Mr Munro explained. Hackers could exploit this and use it to disrupt the National Grid by switching on thousands of them at the same time. Each charger can draw up to 22 kilowatts, meaning the grid could be exposed to a sudden demand for tens of megawatts – the capacity of a small power station – if hackers gained access to a large number of vulnerable chargers. There is no evidence that a specific flaw exists in the Copper SB product. Wallbox has told its customers that the device does not comply with electric vehicle charger regulations that were passed in 2021.

Companies House records show Wallbox sold about 40,000 chargers in Britain in 2021 and 2022. Wallbox did not answer when asked how many Copper SBS it has sold in the UK but said it is no longer promoting the device here.

A Department for Business and Trade spokesman said the withdrawal of the Copper SB did not amount to a ban.