Not to mention no oil or filter to change, no plugs or coil packs to go bad, no catalytic converters to steal...
I predict that within 10 years gangs will start stealing EV batteries. With a grinder, trolley and 5 minutes you could remove one from a car. Then take it away and connect it to the grid as stationary storage and earn a few thousand dollars a year in balancing fees.
They could equally have a truck with 3 EV batteries in the back.
A single man cannot throw a 500kg battery bank on the truck. The battery bank in many EVs is a structural part of the car and very well protected from the underside for a reason.
EV batteries are under the car and connected to many other components. They'd basically need to steal the car itself to do it.
It's far from a trivial thing.
That doesn't take into the account the software required to safely and properly charge these packs that will likely be factory or dealership locked to a vehicle if thefts start to happen on a larger scale.
I dont think the safety argument holds much weight. For comparison, there is a lively market in Europe for WW2 relics. People dig up former front lines by night (sometimes even with heavy equipment) and burn out any explosives they can find to sell the "decommissioned" shells to collectors.
No, you cannot. Look up SuperFastMatt's video about the construction and layout of the Tesla battery he had to "chop up" for this custom build.