Boomer23
Well-known member
Great pic, TRONZ. I took some today with my iPhone but yours is way better.
I stopped by since I was "in the neighborhood" in Costa Mesa today, and got some lunch and a few free kWhs. I may be half blind, well let's face it, I am, but I had to circle the lot a few times til I found them. I started looking along the exterior walls of the IKEA, but those were all handicapped and loading zone. I finally found them on my second circuit of the lot, near the main handicapped area, but across the driving lane in the lot.
I've had a Blink card for months, ever since they were sending them out for free after the big unveiling at Balboa Park, but I was never near a Blink station until today. No fuss, no muss, just scan the card and the unit says that you can plug in. It shows almost no information except that you are charging and how much time has elapsed since you started charging. I didn't notice whether it showed total kWh used when I stopped charging. I tried swiping my card to end charging, like I do with the ChargePoint units, but the unit didn't react when I did that, so I just unplugged it. Returning the J connector to the unit isn't very slick. I prefer the ChargePoint again, because the J plug clicks into a holster. With the Blink, you just have to shove the end of the J plug up into the center of the round cord reel and push the cable into the slot at the bottom of the reel to hold everything in place. Not reassuring if, like me, you want to be respectful of the infrastructure and leave everything as neat or neater than you found it. Also, IMHO the Blink J plugs are going to be more susceptible to vandalism and theft than the ChargePoint ones, because of the latter's automated holster.
I went to the Blink website to see if there was a record of my kWh used today, but it said that I have no reports available(????). Chargepoint not only shows your kWh usage in real time and at the end of your charge, but you can also get an immediate report on their website. So far, a thumbs up for Chargepoint from me, but I'm not looking a gift Blink in the mouth. Happy to have some Blinks in Orange County.
Lastly, as I pulled in to the parking spot, a white LEAF with a nice tint job pulled up in the adjacent space and I got to meet Matt and a couple of his friends who were also charging for the first time at IKEA. Matt has had his LEAF for just four weeks, and he said that we'll see him at the Santa Ana HTB meetup tomorrow morning. Nice encounter. I also gave him a printout of Tony's range chart, since Matt was talking about wanting to drive his LEAF toward San Diego sometime.
I also got some attention from two different couples who spotted me unplugging my LEAF and were curious. I spent a good ten minutes answering questions and they all seemed interested and somewhat impressed with the LEAF. My take home message is that the best place to do some "EVangelism" is at charging stations, where the LEAF really does look different from your average Mazda 3 to the casual passerby.
I stopped by since I was "in the neighborhood" in Costa Mesa today, and got some lunch and a few free kWhs. I may be half blind, well let's face it, I am, but I had to circle the lot a few times til I found them. I started looking along the exterior walls of the IKEA, but those were all handicapped and loading zone. I finally found them on my second circuit of the lot, near the main handicapped area, but across the driving lane in the lot.
I've had a Blink card for months, ever since they were sending them out for free after the big unveiling at Balboa Park, but I was never near a Blink station until today. No fuss, no muss, just scan the card and the unit says that you can plug in. It shows almost no information except that you are charging and how much time has elapsed since you started charging. I didn't notice whether it showed total kWh used when I stopped charging. I tried swiping my card to end charging, like I do with the ChargePoint units, but the unit didn't react when I did that, so I just unplugged it. Returning the J connector to the unit isn't very slick. I prefer the ChargePoint again, because the J plug clicks into a holster. With the Blink, you just have to shove the end of the J plug up into the center of the round cord reel and push the cable into the slot at the bottom of the reel to hold everything in place. Not reassuring if, like me, you want to be respectful of the infrastructure and leave everything as neat or neater than you found it. Also, IMHO the Blink J plugs are going to be more susceptible to vandalism and theft than the ChargePoint ones, because of the latter's automated holster.
I went to the Blink website to see if there was a record of my kWh used today, but it said that I have no reports available(????). Chargepoint not only shows your kWh usage in real time and at the end of your charge, but you can also get an immediate report on their website. So far, a thumbs up for Chargepoint from me, but I'm not looking a gift Blink in the mouth. Happy to have some Blinks in Orange County.
Lastly, as I pulled in to the parking spot, a white LEAF with a nice tint job pulled up in the adjacent space and I got to meet Matt and a couple of his friends who were also charging for the first time at IKEA. Matt has had his LEAF for just four weeks, and he said that we'll see him at the Santa Ana HTB meetup tomorrow morning. Nice encounter. I also gave him a printout of Tony's range chart, since Matt was talking about wanting to drive his LEAF toward San Diego sometime.
I also got some attention from two different couples who spotted me unplugging my LEAF and were curious. I spent a good ten minutes answering questions and they all seemed interested and somewhat impressed with the LEAF. My take home message is that the best place to do some "EVangelism" is at charging stations, where the LEAF really does look different from your average Mazda 3 to the casual passerby.
