Wouldn't this be a pretty useless thing to steal? You can't joyride it for long if you can't recharge it and it doesn't have too many parts that one could strip and sell. I'm not saying this thing was a work of art, but stealing it's a bit like stealing a famous painting, those who care to buy it will know what it is and it's useless to the other 99% of the population, they should've just stolen the van the bike was in.
Something makes me think the thieves were not looking at the big picture here. They probably had no idea when they purloined the item the need for a charging source. My thought is they saw a motorcycle on the back of the van, cut the cable and made off with now. Only after getting a good look in the light of day did they probably realize they now have a somewhat useless object. Once the power level was drained the bike probably became part of a landfill.
