Many Portland area Blink L3 chargers are KAPUT!

Bad time to be a Leaf owner. I live in the Portland Metro area, specifically Happy Valley, and normally I don't NEED to use the quick chargers because I can get to work and back just fine on one charge.

However, I just began a new job in Gresham, which is 11 miles from my home. My old job was in Tigard, which was ALSO 11 miles when I took the shortcut across the Sellwood Bridge (currently closed because they're moving the entire thing over to build a new bridge in its place.)

After work yesterday, I had to drive to Tigard to pick up my last paycheck from my last job. So, it was in my itinerary to stop at a known quick charger along the way in order to get some juice. Broadway Fred Meyer to be specific. Unfortunately, both sides of the QC were down, so I had to get what I could in an hour from the L2 (slower) charger. I figured I could visit the QC in Tigard to get the rest of what I needed. During the hour I was waiting, I dropped off my wedding ring at their jeweler to get it cleaned and the prongs tightened (my diamond was able to turn!) I have the lifetime plan with them, so I get this all done for free.

I went to my old work and then the bank and post office. After that, I went to the QC at Tigard Fred Meyer, but lo and behold, both sides were down in it, too! Not only that, but their L2 charger was blocked by a large Ford pickup.

I went to customer service and they paged the driver via the description and license plate, but no one showed up, so I just decided to wait outside. Luckily, the driver showed up soon. It was a very frail, old handicapped man who I could hardly be mad at, because he obviously thought that the EV spot was just another handicapped spot.

After he moved I hooked up. Literally under 3 minutes later, another Leaf showed up, and the driver was walking up to the quick charger. I had to tell him they were down. He was also very low on miles.

So, while I would have liked to get my hour (and sincerely needed it), I had to compromise and go for only 30 minutes so as to allow the other Leaf owner to charge, too. After I left, my GPS told me I may not have enough power to get back to the other Fred Meyer! However, due to Rush Hour and subsequent crawling traffic speeds, tI was actually able to save quite a bit of power driving that way, so go there with some miles to spare. Maybe the one time in my life I was actually THANKFUL for slow-moving traffic!

Once back at the other Fred Meyer, I had to charge for another hour. Killed time by reading their magazines. My ring was supposed to be done by approx. the end of that hour, so I picked it up (very nice and shiny).

I remembered I'd left some stuff in the lunchroom at work, and they throw everything away by Saturday night, so I wanted to go back to work and get it, so I thought I would to to yet ANOTHER quick charger at Burgerville (SE Powell and 92nd) to see if I could charge there and return to work. Unfortunately, that one was ALSO down on both sides. That makes for a total of three quick chargers completely down.

Today, my husband wanted to run some errands, which made things difficult due to the chargers still being down. I called Blink to double-check. Also, I was ICE'd at Wal-Mart. I was about to have a meltdown, I was so annoyed! :evil: Luckily, both at Wal-Mart and at Fred Meyer, where I later at, I was able to educate people on chargers and told a lady about the Leaf, which she didn't know did NOT have a gas backup.

Msquared said:

Bad time to be a Leaf owner. I live in the Portland Metro area, specifically Happy Valley, and normally I don't NEED to use the quick chargers because I can get to work and back just fine on one charge.
<... abridged ...> After that, I went to the QC at Tigard Fred Meyer, but lo and behold, both sides were down in it, too! Not only that, but their L2 charger was blocked by a large Ford pickup.

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I've been dropping by that DCQC on the mornings when the EV Project Blink unit I have in my garage has thrown one of its 'power fault' false alarms and failed to charge my LEAF, and have noticed that, other than a couple of weeks right after it was turned on, it's been broken every time I've looked at it (several months now, I think). I tried calling their tollfree number once, and whoever I spoke with acted as if it was the first indication he'd had that the unit was out of service. And when I looked on the Blink network map just now, it shows the Tigard DCQC station as A-OK.

Grr. I hope Fred Meyer can get their money back.

sorry to hear about your QC troubles. AV has been fairly reliable and there are no Blinks currently near me but I hear about their issues in the Seattle area EVERY week.

now, we are seeing evidence of vandalism though which makes it even worse. I will soon have 4 blinks in my area and hoping they work out but the thing I am really waiting for is Nissan's announced QC network they plan to install at LEAF dealerships. hopefully between AV, Blink and Nissan, we can now have a few options in any direction of travel

I have a feeling that blink/ecotality is going to implode, any day now, as soon as the free government money dries up... their product quality is really disappointing and surely can't survive the free market.

Yet another example of why EV owners shouldn't/can't depend upon public charging for daily use. Charging at home or work are the only "sure things" (as long as they're not Blink ), and I believe the target demographic for BEV's should be strictly local commutes well within that particular battery pack's range (and QC doesn't count).

Stanton said:

Yet another example of why EV owners shouldn't/can't depend upon public charging for daily use. Charging at home or work are the only "sure things" (as long as they're not Blink ), and I believe the target demographic for BEV's should be strictly local commutes well within that particular battery pack's range (and QC doesn't count).

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that is a pretty short view there.

Hopefully, the Nissan QC stations that should be appearing
at selected dealerships will become a reliable resource.

If well placed, available 24/7, and reliable, this QC network
could be the game-changer that many of us have been waiting for.

at first this conclusion sounds skeptical but I would have to agree and also say that it's not as devastating as it might sound. We early adapters have had some very unrealistic expectations about public charging. I think it was Andy Palmer himself who said a while back that the happiest customers are the one's using the Leaf for a 30 mile commute. public charging is nice here and there, but it's just plain not practical for daily use at this point. That said, I still think we need more public fast chargers and they MUST be reliable. they will never need to be as populated as gas stations but for the off hand occasion that one is needed it is really needed badly.

Stanton said:

Yet another example of why EV owners shouldn't/can't depend upon public charging for daily use. Charging at home or work are the only "sure things" (as long as they're not Blink ), and I believe the target demographic for BEV's should be strictly local commutes well within that particular battery pack's range (and QC doesn't count).

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Thanks, everyone. Great replies and some very good points brought up.

As I've already written, thankfully I am not usually forced to rely on these L3 chargers, as I am one of those commuters who uses the car 30 miles or less per day. I suppose my entire point was to highlight that it's still somewhat scary, though, when you actually do need them and they aren't available.

As a very blunt and outgoing individual, I have no problem telling people (politely, of course) that they're blocking a charger. However, I am often met with outright defiance. I could go off on an entire tangent on rude people (especially other women) when I politely let them know that they could be preventing someone from being able to charge.

In spite of these troubles, I do not regret leasing this vehicle. I swapped a 2011 Hyundai Elantra, which is a good-looking and decent car, but I actually like how the Leaf rides, handles, and accelerates much better. On a side note, I became a moderator for a high-traffic Hyundai forum while I had it, and although I no longer have the vehicle, I am now the sole moderator for all Hyundai Elantra models (all generations), as well as a few smaller subforums. The reason I am mentioning this is because I have a LOT of exposure, and many people are curious about my Leaf and want to know about my experience with it. I even have my own thread on my daily Leaf adventures.

Just letting y'all know that I'm a very vocal advocate/activist for the car itself and the charging stations.

My #1 FAVORITE thing about charging stations, though, is all the nice people I meet when using them. I even met a Blink employee once, to end this on a positive note.

Has there been any announcement as to which Nissan dealers are going to get the quick chargers?

Philip

Just be thankful you even have access to L3 ever. There are some areas of the country which have never seen them. I live between DC and Baltimore (20 miles in either directions) and have 0 L3 stations within a 100 + mile radius.

It seems like Ecotality very rarely knows that a QC is out of service, so I would make sure that you call in each broken unit.

Also make sure you report the status on plugshare so that others are aware as well.

Thanks all! Definitely having plenty of L3 chargers in the area is a boon, P71VIC.

I definitely call Blink when I notice this stuff (called in all 3 at once the other day; they said that they all have been reported several times.) I do not use Plugshare yet, though, so thank you for telling me about it, drees.

The BLink QC and L2 stations at the Cornelius Pass Fred Meyer had been functioning fine since they powered up a few months ago. I see that one is off-line today. Pretty much every other Blink station I have visited has had at least 50% of the units non-operational or ICE'd. I've left enough "thanx for screwing me notes" to know I can never depend on a Public Station working.

BTW - I use the PlugShare App on my phone for public station status. I find it much more accurate than any proprietary (ChargePoint, Blink, etc) Apps. Maybe b/c it is so easy for users to update the EVSE state, sometimes I am walking past one, I can check the state and correct it before I'm inside the store.

padamson1, I had no idea Cornelius Pass FM had L3 chargers. I've only used their L2 once. I don't go out there all too often; my husband works out there and best friend lives there, but I normally use the one at Hillsboro Civic Center. That one has never been down, knock on proverbial wood!

By the way, were you talking about leaving notes on ICEr's cars, or notes on the chargers? :?:

I leave notes on ICEr's cars occasionally, but there are so many in my part of town (Ignorantville, a.k.a. Happy Valley) that it seems futile. Did you know that the Happy Valley/Clackamas Walmart has 2 Blink chargers, but they are ALWAYS blocked? Oh, and I've recognized at least 2 of these folks as employees.

Fred Meyer on Johnson Creek Blvd. has them, too. Last night, I was about to leave a note on an ICEr's car there. It was a black Mercedes with vanity plates that said "Wonka." I don't know why I mention that, I just thought it was stupid, but I was probably just mad they were blocking one of the chargers. Well, she came out right as I was going to put the note on her windshield, so I just handed it to her. Then, she THREW IT ON THE GROUND without reading it! Hey! :twisted:

Anyhow, I'm going to have to get this app you all speak of.

Hi Everyone,

As you may know, we are having some hardware problems with the Blink DC Fast Chargers in your area. We appreciate your patience and want you to know we are working on solving these concerns. If you visit a Blink DC Fast Charger and are unable to receive a charge – please let us know! Please make sure that you check both charging ports, as it is possible that the other charging port may still deliver the charge you need.

While we continue working on a permanent fix for all units, we also want to make sure we are individually servicing units as needed. If you encounter any issue while charging, please don’t hesitate to contact Blink Support at 1.888.998.2546 or email [email protected].

Thank you!

Thanks Blink. Good news: the Burgerville (SE Powell and 92nd) quick chargers are back up, and I've been able to use them on my way home from work for the past 2 days.

padamson - That's odd, because for the last 3 months the right-hand charger on the Cornelius FM QC has been broken. Either "This port is out of service" or just completely off. Before that, you couldn't have two cars plugged in at once (even though that's the whole point). Having emailed Blink several times about the Cornelius Pass charger, I've given up. If they don't know the thing is busted by now, there's no point. But they are right up on me for my home charger, which I wasn't allowed to move when we had to move. Awesome.

I often rely on that charger to make it home, especially during the winter when the battery just doesn't cut it for my commute. I usually make a stop at the PSU QC (usually working, but often in use) and then at Freddy's on the way home if that doesn't work out.

I'm considering seeing if my office will let me pay to have an electrician put in a plug in our parking lot. Even a 110 would be better than nothing since I'm parked for 8 hours anyway.

I like the chargers for meeting people too. Unless you're the guy who was at PSU a while back, talking on the phone, not plugged in, and told me when I asked that you'd "be a while." Jerk.

Msquared - I work in Clackamas, right off 224. I know what you mean.

Lynza said:

Before that, you couldn't have two cars plugged in at once (even though that's the whole point).

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Just to let you know, the Blink DCQC units are only designed to charge one vehicle at a time. The way they work is that when the car currently charging it done, the other one will start automatically. Granted, this doesn't work if only one side is actually functional, but that's the idea.

I've noticed that the downtown Hillsboro Blink DCQC (at city hall) hasn't had any issues or outages recently. You might want to check out that one.