Blink DCFC in New Jersey?

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NYLEAF

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 5, 2011
Messages
574
Location
Long Island, NY
Okay, I'll bite -- what's with the new Blink DC Fast Charger in southern New Jersey? It's the first publicly available station in the state, and it happens to be in a great location, at a 24-hour truck-stop with Dunkin Donuts, right where the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike meet to cross the bridge into Delaware. But one DCFC does not a network make. What's the plan, man?

I know that Philadelphia was added into the EV Project a while back (along with Chicago and Atlanta), but I never heard of any plans for Philadelphia-area DCFCs to be installed. And, the location isn't exactly convenient for drivers to/from Philadelphia. That location is much more geared towards people traveling through the Northeast, say from Boston to DC. (It happens to be very close to the Supercharger that Tesla installed in Delaware, for example.)

So, Blink, what gives? Is this the start of a network of stations throughout the Northeast, making travel possible between all the major cities? (I can dream, can't I?)
 
NYLEAF said:
right where the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike meet to cross the bridge into Delaware. But one DCFC does not a network make. What's the plan, man?
Just to clarify. the turnpike and the parkway cross in woodbridge nj, which is about 100 miles north of the deleware memorial bridges.
I just looked at the map on the blink site and it and it appears to me that there are 2 chargers there. it is in a flying J truckstop off of exit 2 of I295 which is just a smidg west of the turnpike down there.
 
The OP is mostly correct.

The 2 chargers (EVSE DCQC) are indeed located on the NJ side of the Delaware Memorial Bridge, where I295 and the NJTP meet before crossing.
Very cool.
As part of a larger plan, this is a good start.
I'd love to see a couple in the rest area of the AC expressway.
That's a great half way to the beach spot..

I think I'll drive down to these QC's and de-virginize my QC port.

Edit:
OK, so it's 1:30 in the morning.
I was curious
They are located in the Flying J truck stop, exit 2C off of I295.
They are on the very East side, past the gas pumps, past the Denny's over by where the RV's park.
Very Cool!

EDIT (Again)- I got emailed a bill from BlinK.
Charge session lasted 622 Seconds (10.4 Minutes)
Total Charges... $0.00
Free for now apparently!

E1450495-537E-45EE-BD83-641426B5913B-1951-000000F246C3F1B2_zps76119df3.jpg
 
Awesome!

KillaWhat, since you're a local, can you speculate on what Blink's plan might be, based on the location of this station? What audience would use this station? Someone traveling from Delaware to the Shore?

Thanks
 
NYLEAF said:
Awesome!

KillaWhat, since you're a local, can you speculate on what Blink's plan might be, based on the location of this station? What audience would use this station? Someone traveling from Delaware to the Shore?

Thanks

It's about 22 miles South of my home.
I can speculate.... but.

It's right at the Nexus of any North-South corridor.
Alone its sort of worthless to all but a few; Its a novelty, unless you happen to commute from Newark DE or Northern Maryland, to some place like Cherry Hill.
But with another one 50 miles to the North, and/ or in the Rest Area of the AC expressway, it starts to become a network.
Also, Northern Virginia has some good charging.
Put one of these in the "Maryland House" Rest Area, and you start to have some North South possibilities.

I desperately tried to research Blink's pricing structure for their CHAdeMO sites, and all I could find was some stockholder relations stuff which indicated it might be as high as $1 per minute.
Now that's not going to get much use.
Price it at $3 a charge....... I'll go $3.

But I'm going to play with it heavily while it's free!
Hell, It's free, and I have XM radio.
I'll drive 44 Miles round trip for a Soda and Hot-dog at Flying J's while its free.
I'll drive 44 Miles RT to buy lawnmower gas from Flying J's :lol: :lol:

I'm going to plan some shopping in Delaware.
Stop by for a quick top off to assure it's working as I head South, then catch it again as I come back North and actually need it.
Why not?
 
So I noticed today that it's not even on the Blink MAP anymore.

I called Blink, and was told after some "getting to know you preamble" that it needs a replacement "meter", and it's down until the parts arrive.
They "pulled it from the map" so no one would try to charge there until it's fixed.

I asked if that was unusual, since normally it just shows out of service.
He said yes, but they felt this was better solution.

I pointed out that just because it was off their map, it was still ON everybody elses map, but now we had no way to determine it's status?
He was not that vested in the conversation, and wished me a good day.

I miss it already.
Of course, this points out the inherent weakness in the system.
You head out, expecting to get to Washington DC using the QC's along the way only to discover that one is down, and since they are so sparse (1 is pretty sparse) you are sunk.
How unreliable is this thing that it's down in 2 days?

I still miss it......
 
KillaWhat said:
So I noticed today that it's not even on the Blink MAP anymore.

I called Blink, and was told after some "getting to know you preamble" that it needs a replacement "meter", and it's down until the parts arrive.
They "pulled it from the map" so no one would try to charge there until it's fixed.

I asked if that was unusual, since normally it just shows out of service.
He said yes, but they felt this was better solution.

I pointed out that just because it was off their map, it was still ON everybody elses map, but now we had no way to determine it's status?
He was not that vested in the conversation, and wished me a good day.

I miss it already.
Of course, this points out the inherent weakness in the system.
You head out, expecting to get to Washington DC using the QC's along the way only to discover that one is down, and since they are so sparse (1 is pretty sparse) you are sunk.
How unreliable is this thing that it's down in 2 days?

I still miss it......

The Bink map & Blink customer service info on specific chargers is typically wrong. I've seen many Blink chargers go off the map and they are working just fine. Also many chargers which look a-ok on the map (or Bink CS says is fine) are not.

Bottom line: Do not trust any Blink provided info on charger state. Better to use Plugshare crowd sourced info.
 
apvbguy said:
peter said:
Bottom line: Do not trust any Blink provided info on charger state. Better to use Plugshare crowd sourced info.
I hope the killerwat person helps by updating plugshare

I like KillerWat. :evil: :twisted:
Didn't you see all the pretty pictures I put on Plugshare?.

It's a little out of the way to just stop by, and since I now can't trust it, I have to head down there with a full charge so I can abort whatever plan I had, and make it back on what I took with me.
But I'll do my best.
 
apvbguy said:
peter said:
Bottom line: Do not trust any Blink provided info on charger state. Better to use Plugshare crowd sourced info.
I hope the killerwat person helps by updating plugshare

The DCQC has re-appeared on the Blink Map.
Just in time for it to stop being free?

:evil: :twisted: Killer-watt ! :twisted: :evil:
 
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