ECOtality News 8/12/13 - DOE Stops payments

[DaveEV]

evGo's subscription plans are good for such people, a flat monthly rate for all you can drive, charging anywhere anytime.

I really dislike membership plants, since this usually means that low-use customers generally subsidize the high-use customers. Pay-as-you go is really the way to go, you just need to figure out what kind of rates make sense.

For this reason, when Blink starts charging an annual fee, I will simply choose to switch to the plan that does not charge an annual fee. At an expected $35/year, I simply don't do enough public charging to make it worth while (a couple charging sessions a month - a QC very occasionally and an L2 session here or there for an hour or three) and I would simply rather pay a-la-carte even if it meant that I ended up paying more overall some years.

I still feel that if they billed in smaller increments than 1 hour you'd see a lot more opportunity charging. There's lots of times when one might want to plug in for 15-30 minutes but feeling like you're getting ripped off (even though as a member your rate may be the same as guest charging) completely dissuades you from doing so.

To limit credit card fees (most credit card processors charge a fixed fee + %) simply make customers deposit a minimum of $25 like Chargepoint does. This also effectively serves as the membership fee and also provide funds to Blink up front. Win-win-win! Maybe Chargepoint should just buy Blink/Ecotality?

 

[davewill]

I really dislike membership plants, since this usually means that low-use customers generally subsidize the high-use customers. Pay-as-you go is really the way to go, you just need to figure out what kind of rates make sense. ...

There's room for both. Pay-as-you-go for the people who do most of their charging at home, and a monthly rate for people who must use the public infrastructure every day. The problem with Blink's monthly charge is that it still requires a fee for use as well, so it does the every day user little good. The problem with eVgo's approach is that the minimum monthly charges are so high that the person who charges mostly at home just can't justify the monthly charge. The silver lining is that the fee structures are easy to change and should work themselves out over time.

 

[GRA]

Just a random piece of Ecotality/Blink data. They've spent the past four months installing 10 Blink L2s at the Hayward, Ca. City Hall parking structure, adjacent to the Blink QC. PG&E finally did their thing that's been holding this up since June (there's a minimum 5 week wait), and yesterday I saw that the contractor had connected all the units and powered them up, although they're still blocked off by sawhorses and tape.

These units were all built in 2011, so they've been sitting around in a warehouse for the past eighteen months or more. They haven't even gone into service yet, but wouldn't you know it, two of the ten units are showing blank screens (powered up and illuminated, but no 'Hello' display). I don't have a Blink card so couldn't check to see if they'd respond to one, but the units with 'Hello' displays all had working touchscreens; neither of the malfunctioning units responded when I touched their screens in the same place ('Help'). Reported them to Blink via email, for whatever good that might do. I wonder if they even have any customer service or repair personnel left?

EDIT: It appears someone's still there, as I got an email reply from an actual person within 1/2 hour after sending my message.

 

[Cheezmo]

By the way evGo has a $5/month plan for L2 charging only for cars that don't have DC capability. Not that many locations but if one happened to be where you could use it regularly, that seems like a good deal. When they were talking about it I thought it would be at least $10/month.

 

[jhm614]

By the way evGo has a $5/month plan for L2 charging only for cars that don't have DC capability. Not that many locations but if one happened to be where you could use it regularly, that seems like a good deal. When they were talking about it I thought it would be at least $10/month.

Maybe they will buy out the Blink network in DFW. I would definitely sign up for the $5/month plan then. (Although evGo does label the $5/month plan as the "Chevy Volt plan", state that is for plug in hybrids and say that it's limited to 3 consecutive hours of L2 charging)

 

[Cheezmo]

Can't think of many places with Blink chargers in my area that I would want to stay for more than 3 hours (movie theater comes closest). I wonder if they really wouldn't sell you that plan for a Leaf without the quick charge capability.

 

[jhm614]

Can't think of many places with Blink chargers in my area that I would want to stay for more than 3 hours (movie theater comes closest). I wonder if they really wouldn't sell you that plan for a Leaf without the quick charge capability.

Good point, except for the airport, I've never charged more than an hour or so.

 

[cdub]

Is this Blink that's causing the overheating? Mine's been annoying recently in that his has internal faults once a week and I need to power it down and back on to make it work.

 

[QueenBee]

Is this Blink that's causing the overheating? Mine's been annoying recently in that his has internal faults once a week and I need to power it down and back on to make it work.

Not likely the overheating of the J1772 plug that is causing you to have to restart it. There are various TSB fixes that your unit may need one that might fix this problem. I would highly recommend having Ecotality repair it ASAP before they are not able to.

 

[FairwoodRed]

Just a random piece of Ecotality/Blink data. They've spent the past four months installing 10 Blink L2s at the Hayward, Ca. City Hall parking structure, adjacent to the Blink QC. PG&E finally did their thing that's been holding this up since June (there's a minimum 5 week wait), and yesterday I saw that the contractor had connected all the units and powered them up, although they're still blocked off by sawhorses and tape.

These units were all built in 2011, so they've been sitting around in a warehouse for the past eighteen months or more. They haven't even gone into service yet, but wouldn't you know it, two of the ten units are showing blank screens (powered up and illuminated, but no 'Hello' display). I don't have a Blink card so couldn't check to see if they'd respond to one, but the units with 'Hello' displays all had working touchscreens; neither of the malfunctioning units responded when I touched their screens in the same place ('Help'). Reported them to Blink via email, for whatever good that might do. I wonder if they even have any customer service or repair personnel left?

EDIT: It appears someone's still there, as I got an email reply from an actual person within 1/2 hour after sending my message.

I had trouble with a Blink DCFC this weekend. I called Blink to report it at about 6pm on a Sunday, but no one answered. I got a voicemail box asking me to leave a message. There was an option for “charging emergencies”, but I didn’t try it as I got my charge. Looks like Blink has already cut back on their customer service folks.

 

[surfingslovak]

I had trouble with a Blink DCFC this weekend. I called Blink to report it at about 6pm on a Sunday, but no one answered. I got a voicemail box asking me to leave a message. There was an option for “charging emergencies”, but I didn’t try it as I got my charge. Looks like Blink has already cut back on their customer service folks.

That was quick! It would be interesting to hear about other similar stories and experiences. Perhaps it would help us figure out how many employees (if any) ECOtality has retained.

 

[eHelmholtz]

My home Blink unit has been showing the orange/red error screen frequently (daily) especially when plugged into a Volt (I suspect a ground wire poor crimp). In addition, the J1772 handle gets rather warm when pulling 30A. I rang up blink in late July and they arranged to have the cable replaced and the orange screen issue addressed; this was delayed by the availability of the new cable. The cable arrived at the local tech's address on Friday August 9 and I was to have the service done Monday August 12. Unfortunately, I was told that all service calls have been put on hold until the DOE issue is better sorted. I couldn't get anymore information than this.

 

[KeiJidosha]

When planning to opportunity charge using Blink L2 equipment, plan more time, and bring more money...

Ecotality Reduced Current on Level 2 Blink Electric Car Chargers

"If you drive a plug-in car that can take a charge at relatively higher power—such as a 2013 Nissan LEAF with a 6.6-kW charger—expect charging at level 2 to take about twice as long as advertised, when using a Level 2 Blink charger."

 

[kidkenpo]

eHelmholtz

Is your unit the new Blink HQ or older blink unit?

Thanks

 

[z0ner]

Near the footer of their front page:

An Important Message

We wanted you to know that the needs of our drivers are paramount to us and despite the challenges we currently face, we will continue to operate the Blink Network and maintain our Blink chargers until further notice. We urge you to visit a Blink charger today and show that you support the growth of a public charging infrastructure.

ECTY.O $0.31 @ close. Down from $1.46.

Seven days later: $0.18. -41.9% from last week.

Watch out belooooooowwwwwwwwwww.

 

[wsbca]

My home Blink unit has been showing the orange/red error screen frequently (daily)... Unfortunately, I was told that all service calls have been put on hold until the DOE issue is better sorted. I couldn't get anymore information than this.

Bleh...I guess no reason to call now for my similar issue (do you have to power cycle yours?). Perhaps the local contractor who installed it (they also did our solar system), who I assume Ecotality would have sent on the service call, would be willing to be contacted directly to recrimp ours for a reasonable fee. And worst case, if it dies, buy the new Bosch?

 

[Luft]

The deal that ChargePoint presents to hosts can be considered onerous if a host is looking to recoup costs. We saw a city municipality agreement that was posted awhile back and discussed on the forum. Something like 50 cents per transaction and 7 or 7.5% of the total revenue collected goes to ChargePoint...So the host really cannot recover all of their equipment, installation and operational costs on a deal like that. Plus, ChargePoint hardware is anything but cheap...

Of course if the Blink deal is so generous they can't keep their doors open...

Ya, catch-22, isn't it? Charge too little and go broke. Charge a little more to float the business and there aren't that many takers (at least around here with the ECOtality money in play)...

No such thing as a free lunch afterall...

Maybe ChargePoint or someone similar can just buy all the ECTY assets (the installed charger locations are the most valuable part of that) and move forward....

Yeah, the EV charging business is definitely a difficult one to make money. Maybe the CEO shouldn't have taken MILLIONS of dollars in salaries and benefits? It just seems to me that nobody is worth that much. At some point investors need to figure out that money does NOT attract quality, money attracts greed.

The problem with another company buying all of ECOtallity's assets is that the shoddy equipment is a liability. Who needs that heartache?

 

[davewill]

Bleh...I guess no reason to call now for my similar issue (do you have to power cycle yours?). Perhaps the local contractor who installed it (they also did our solar system), who I assume Ecotality would have sent on the service call, would be willing to be contacted directly to recrimp ours for a reasonable fee. And worst case, if it dies, buy the new Bosch?

You can't recrimp. Once it's done wrong, you have to cut off the ruined pins, and use new ones. For most of us mere mortals with ordinary tools/skills, that means buying a whole cable and J1772 handle assembly and replacing that. Even if I could find the pins and the right crimp tool, I know that's the only way I'd feel confident that I had a good result. And that's what Blink has their repair contractors do. Replace the whole cable assembly. I assume the old one goes back to the manufacturer for rework or recycling.

 

[Luft]

They got all the money that DOE contracted for, over $100 million. That's all they really wanted, and they got it ALL, and then went BK.

Sometimes I think that capitalism needs an overhaul. The problem is that often the interests of the head of an organization are not aligned with the interests of the organization that they are running. When CEOs get multi-million dollar salaries and golden parachutes even if they run the business into the ground why would they care if the business they are running actually succeeds? Hey, they got theirs.

 

[walterbays]

http://freebeacon.com/ecotality-faces-lawsuit-for-misleading-investors/

about two thirds of the company’s staff had been laid off...

A second law firm, Brower Piven, announced that it has also filed a complaint against ECOtality for allegedly misleading investors...

former CEO Jonathan Read... received millions of dollars in compensation through company stock, giving him a stake in the continued rise in share prices...

insider trading investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission... under investigation by the Labor Department for alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Davis-Bacon Act.