Well they would literally have to cut the entire floor out of the EV as the batteries are part of the structure then it would be a very heavy mass to move. Not likely to be a high theft item. I don’t know of any reports of them being a high theft item to date and lithium batteries definitely have value there is an entire used market based on crashed EV being parted out. But as far as i know it is still old gas cars that are the targets of chop shops.
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It falls into so many categories for motives., Hate the fed, hate the post office, hate EVs, want a battery pack, want to steal. There are probably a few more…
Not worth it. A hybrid would have a similar issue. Except the drive-train would probably have to be based on production cars which creates more demand for theft of other parts
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I’m sure eventually we’ll hear about some drug addict with an angle grinder that set a Tesla on fire trying to steal the pack or wiring.
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I know the Toyota Prius is heavily targeted due to the sheer amount and quality of the metals in their catalytic converters. People getting shields and cages for them to buy time or discourage the laziest of them. I think the Chevy Equinox is as well but it could be for other reasons.
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Seems like that will definitely slow down the next attempt
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A few years back a car dealer in TC came in on Monday morning to find 25 cars sitting on their brake rotors. Lot right on a major road.
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The black market for tires, is driven by people who don’t want to pay the 3 dollar recycling fee. 
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Used to be 2.50 a tire here now i believe it is up to 5.00 for passenger tires and 10 for heavy truck tires. but I don’t see tire theft much, but LOTS of cat thieves around, and for a fleet of trucks we get batteries stolen very frequently as well. 3 to a truck and sometimes they hit a whole yard of five trucks, that’s a painful monday morning…
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Everything seems to be coming up Cody this week.
I hope I’m not wearing out any good luck.
Bought a Matco MIG welder from a coworker. He got a bigger all in one unit and doesn’t need this anymore.
Most important, it takes 10lb spools and he gave me a gas bottle, if anything it’s worth to trade in for at the welding supply store. I’ll probably go for 100% CO2 if that’s cheaper than an argon blend.
I wanted a MIG gun for working the body panels and floorboards in the GMC, and it’ll be more handy for the drum barrels. I will probably use it very sparingly.
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Had that same mig at the exhaust shop, do not would not worry about harming it ours was abused 4-8 hours a day and just kept on ticking. Score that it came with the bottle!
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Called the scrapyard, they don’t sell scrap just auto salvage.
But today wasn’t a total bust I got these 2 20lb propane tanks and a 5 foot tall gas hot water heater tank for 30 bucks from a feller on Marketplace.
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That’s a crying shame to have to cut it up.
But its cheaper than buying steel.
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We’ve always used an electric hot water heater at the house, I wouldn’t really have a need for it as it sits.
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Gas water heaters are kind of a oddity around here, think i have only seen one while i was collecting materiaks, vs probably at least 100 electric ones
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I’ve only managed to get one old electric heater and the last two I’ve got were old gas ones.
Then again these ones were from people living in town so it was probably natural gas.
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Nothing better too use them for, nice find, i got alittle one off the curb last week, i could probley hang an eliment or two in it and resale at auction, since i allready have about 4 left for metal round gasifier tanks.My last hot water heater cost me 120.00 $ brand new on ebay, makes hot water on demand, no tank needed, and it a little small but enough for a good hot shower.
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Here’s what I’ve seen and plan to do next time I get a gas fired water heater. Bend copper tubing into a tight enough coil to run up through the flue pipe. tap it into the tank off the sides, top and bottom and heat from underneath with a rocket stove. The bigger the tank the better. The water will thermosyphon through the tubing and can be used for batch fed hot water for a shop or power out situation.
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Tom i am really tied today so forgive me if i am missing something simple here. But why add the coil to the water heater it seems like excess cost in copper. I have seen plenty of people just T into the drain port and pressure release port and either plumb in a heating loop for an external heating coil like in a wood stove or use the T to heat a radiant heating system in a house. A friend of mine heats his entire house very small and well insulated with a propane hot water heater setup like that.
I could be missing something simple in your plan though i was up till 1am handling hay and still have about 200 of the 1020 square bales to finish getting in before it rains tonight. But that is the end of my haying season atleast
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I’ve seen it all ways Dan. It was pretty common practice back in the late sixties, early seventies back to the earth culture which I was part of. Actually the copper coil just allows better heat transfer and surface area but will only work with something like a rocket stove providing the heat because there is little of no smoke that has to be vented out the flue. But i heat the tanks for my hydronic floors in pipe grids in the back of my wood heater and that works fine as well. I’ve seen copper wound around the outside of the flue as well but in those ways you really don’t want to get the flue gas temps too low or they won’t draw well. Any thermosyphon water heater Just has to have a upward path for the heated water to rise in.
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So I did some info digging, this welder was made by Marquette, which is owned by none other than Lincoln! Good to know I might be able to get spare parts if I twist their arm.
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