Blink Network, you are rubbish

My first experience with Blink was great, a good demonstration of the quick charging system. Nice UI, too.

Second experience, the unit was operable but I didn't have my RFID card yet, and blinknetwork.com could not generate codes. About five minutes later the site was back, but too late because I was already on my way home. Shame, because nothing was wrong with the unit itself.

Today, my family and I were relying on a Blink station near our destination to make a 140km/85mile round trip on highways. The LCDs on the DCFC unit were frozen. Blink customer support couldn't do anything remotely.

Finally we moved onto another QC station. Again a shame because the hardware is so nice and the system is awesome when it's charging—we're just taking about shitty software it seems.

Support afterward has been great as the reps were polite and I got some credits for my trouble.

But if this is why people aren't going to use EVs, here's why. Hard to locate and rely on chargers. I hope this situation improves soon.

Worse still the first time I had a problem I was eager to show a family member how great and convenient QC is. The second time I was actually not gonna be able to make it home with my young kids in the car.

Old news. Blink / Ecotality has never provided a stable charging platform, and now after sucking up $135 million of taxpayer money, they are bankrupt. I'm surprised that they answer the phone at all, except for a $1.5 million "loan" from Nissan.

Oh well I guess it's something to think about next time we have the choice to take our gas-sucking other car, indeed.

neunsechszwo said:

Oh well I guess it's something to think about next time we have the choice to take our gas-sucking other car, indeed.

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Yes, "Just-Drive-The-Prius(TM)"... that's the answer.

TonyWilliams said:

neunsechszwo said:

Oh well I guess it's something to think about next time we have the choice to take our gas-sucking other car, indeed.

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Yes, "Just-Drive-The-Prius(TM)"... that's the answer.

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Not fair, Tony. If I thought I was was likely to get stranded because of bad hardware, I'd take the Prius myself.

neunsechszwo said:

Today, my family and I were relying on a Blink station near our destination to make a 140km/85mile round trip on highways. The LCDs on the DCFC unit were frozen. Blink customer support couldn't do anything remotely.

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This has happened to me before and the Blink people told me to hit the red power reset button nearby. They told me it should be right where the stations are, but I couldn't find any and finally found it to be located about 15 feet away in that location. Hit the reset and one station booted up OK but the other station remained dead. Luckily that one working station was enough for me to charge up.

I've had many incidents when I'd get to a QC station and found it to be inoperable. You shouldn't rely on it. You can only treat it as a nice-to-have.

Volusiano said:

I've had many incidents when I'd get to a QC station and found it to be inoperable. You shouldn't rely on it. You can only treat it as a nice-to-have.

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You hit the nail on the head: you can't depend on public charging, and this isn't limited to Blink (although I think they have the worst design). I've been trying to get GE to fix a bank of (free) WattStations @Cowboys Stadium (in Arlington), and after almost 2 months only *1* is working--and I haven't personally verified that, so it may not be true (they claimed they were operational until I tried to use them)! I've seen down ChargePoint stations as well.

Volusiano said:

You shouldn't rely on it. You can only treat it as a nice-to-have.

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Or, would be nice to have, if ever we have some. But have experienced a similar feeling when traveling far enough to need to find a L2 station, nice to have, but can't rely on the one you want being available, or working. You have to have plans B to Z.

So, for those of us not in the Tesla class, EV driving means local, tethered but safe and comfortable. Or, if we dare, adventurous, fraught with risk and anxiety, but rewarding if we can beat the turtle as we push the envelope.

Of course, even Tesla can't put superchargers everywhere. There will always be tons of destinations where Tesla drivers end up in the same boat as the rest of us.

ChargePoint works great in NJ/NY. No ChargePoints near you?

Welcome to the 3000th Blink/Ecotality sucks thread.

EVDRIVER said:

Welcome to the 3000th Blink/Ecotality sucks thread.

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:lol:
This could possibly be relocated to the dedicated Blink subforum.

Volusiano said:

neunsechszwo said:

Today, my family and I were relying on a Blink station near our destination to make a 140km/85mile round trip on highways. The LCDs on the DCFC unit were frozen. Blink customer support couldn't do anything remotely.

Click to expand...

This has happened to me before and the Blink people told me to hit the red power reset button nearby. They told me it should be right where the stations are, but I couldn't find any and finally found it to be located about 15 feet away in that location. Hit the reset and one station booted up OK but the other station remained dead. Luckily that one working station was enough for me to charge up.

I've had many incidents when I'd get to a QC station and found it to be inoperable. You shouldn't rely on it. You can only treat it as a nice-to-have.

Click to expand...

I thought about the red reset. Was thinking I would hit it after giving up, just to see what would happen, but forgot.

Regarding Chargepoint—yes many dozens of stations here and I've gotten to use a few during dinner etc. But this situation called for about 10 mins of QC so glad I eventually found it!

EVDRIVER said:

Welcome to the 3000th Blink/Ecotality sucks thread.

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I predict that if this keeps happening, they're eventually going to go bankrupt.

I never plan around blink chargers. You always need a non blink charger as a backup on your route plan just in case it breaks... I use the level 2 chargers at the Walgreen's. They are expensive more than blink level 2, but cheaper than a blink QC.. It just means you have to wait 3 hours instead of 20 minutes.

Well, last week I was finally able to be a Blink customer. Despite signing up as a member and multiple requests for cards as well as follow-up with customer service, I have yet to receive any cards. But I did plan a trip and got a code through their website. That worked well enough. But I can't always anticipate when I will be over-extended and request a code within a day in advance, so I will need a card.

I have their app on my Droid, but can't seem to get it to give me a code, though I was able to get one through the website.

I have also joined ChargePoint and got their card within a couple days. But, I have yet to find one of their chargers near where I commute. I have found one Clipper Creek free charging point. But otherwise, it seems like Blink is dominant where I am. Most other spots I've tried to find through the apps are off-limits, i.e., employee only. I now know where all the local Nissan dealers are as my plan B, but don't want to overstay our welcome on free chargers. If we want charging networks available, we have to recognize that the businesses behind them need to have revenue for it to become a reality.

I hope they can get their situation resolved and be a reliable and profitable network.

uwskier20 said:

EVDRIVER said:

Welcome to the 3000th Blink/Ecotality sucks thread.

Click to expand...

:lol:
This could possibly be relocated to the dedicated Blink subforum.

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Which one? :lol:

A few unreliable QCs is bad, but imagine your EVSE network in your region is 2/3rds Blink - including those stations at dealerships (almost 75% without the dealerships) and the unreliable, bankrupt company has a larger impact. While chargepoint might be big and popular in California, the DFW area has a whopping 16 total stations at only 11 locations. I wish we had more reliable public charging

it appears that a predominant cause for non-functioning Blink stations is in-operable UI. I have encountered that in different flavors: frozen UI, or sometimes extreme difficulty entering zipcodes, where the calibration of the screen is incorrect.

I guess in response to that Blink has discontinued the need to enter zipcodes.

Right, which is why it's so disappointing. Blink's system just seems like one giant facepalm. Guest codes and "membership", connectivity issues. Chargepoint is so simple in comparison.

I see the bankruptcy thread now so I suppose it's all moot; wishful thinking that Nissan will just buy those assets and offer free QC. Nice that for now it's mainly Leafs with the ChadeMo ports. Seems like Nissan has a vested interest in promoting a vision of EV utopia—with other technologies becoming more competitive.

Speaking of Blink, a city inspector came this morning to inspect my Blink EVSE 2 1/2 years after it was installed! The installing company (Interstates) never called the city after it was installed. It passed.