What will happen to public EVSEs if Ecotality dies?

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coolfilmaker

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
319
It seems pretty likely to happen at this point. Will they be shut down or made free or sold to another company?
 
coolfilmaker said:
It seems pretty likely to happen at this point. Will they be shut down or made free or sold to another company?

If its bankruptcy, that would up to the court. I would assume they would ask for some reorganization, and not dissolution.
 
TonyWilliams said:
coolfilmaker said:
It seems pretty likely to happen at this point. Will they be shut down or made free or sold to another company?

If its bankruptcy, that would up to the court. I would assume they would ask for some reorganization, and not dissolution.

An interesting possibility would be if Ecotality does the "abandon in place" route for installed equipment. At which point they would revert to conservator-ship by the bankruptcy court. Like the Solyndra scandal, everything would be sold to the highest bidder. But would the entire tapestry of chargers be sold as one "unit" or would the people who won the land or buildings at which the chargers are deployed buy them? How about this one, since Ecotality would be gone the way of Solyndra, the courts come in and seize every Blink unit installed and auction them off on the courthouse steps. Every Blink unit includes the ones in our garages, of course. On the other hand, maybe Warren Buffoonish will come to the rescue.

Dave, whose Blink Unit will only be taken from My Cold Dead Hands.
 
The bigger issue might be that, between the possible shutdown of the Blink control network and no maintenance being performed on the units, they would all quickly become boat anchors even if they were left in place and on...

CWO4Mann said:
An interesting possibility would be if Ecotality does the "abandon in place" route for installed equipment.
 
Most likely they will be taken over by another company. They have the invaluable contract with DOE (i.e. valuable for established players like GE, not for upstarts like ecotality).
 
evnow said:
Most likely they will be taken over by another company. They have the invaluable contract with DOE (i.e. valuable for established players like GE, not for upstarts like ecotality).
Heck, this could be part of their strategy!

  1. Rack up a bunch of debt installing charging stations.
  2. Go broke.
  3. File bankruptcy.
  4. Start new company.
  5. Purchase old assets at discounted price.
  6. Profit!
 
smkettner said:
Become boat anchors? Are we not already half way there today?

Some of them are, but if you look at the threads herein which talk to the technical aspects of the Blink L2, we know we can open them up and gut them of almost everything turn them into a demand charger. Sort of like those Open EVSE gizmos -- which if I had known about them before I got the Blink I would have built one.
 
I think there would be a decent market for the Open EVSE all assembled and ready to go. Just attach the J1772 cord, attach the power to it, and mount the tri-color status indicator somewhere on the panel. Clean and simple.

CWO4Mann said:
smkettner said:
Become boat anchors? Are we not already half way there today?
Some of them are, but if you look at the threads herein which talk to the technical aspects of the Blink L2, we know we can open them up and gut them of almost everything turn them into a demand charger. Sort of like those Open EVSE gizmos -- which if I had known about them before I got the Blink I would have built one.
 
For your home, wouldn't it be cool to mount the Open EVSE in the bottom Blink cord caddy, reuse the Blink E-cord, and recycle the top unit.

TomT said:
I think there would be a decent market for the Open EVSE all assembled and ready to go. Just attach the J1772 cord, attach the power to it, and mount the tri-color status indicator somewhere on the panel. Clean and simple.

CWO4Mann said:
smkettner said:
Become boat anchors? Are we not already half way there today?
Some of them are, but if you look at the threads herein which talk to the technical aspects of the Blink L2, we know we can open them up and gut them of almost everything turn them into a demand charger. Sort of like those Open EVSE gizmos -- which if I had known about them before I got the Blink I would have built one.
 
the latest version of the home Blink and its 2.0 software works very well for me.
hardwired, it never goes offline.
it always charges, even when my internet is crashed.

It's installation cost me $300 bucks on top of the subsidy.

it also is keeping good track of monthly stats, which is reported on the unit.
i am not a fan of the web-based reporting and analysis tools. maybe I need a lesson.
 
Its no secret what I think of Ecotality and how the company was bought off by "competing" interests right when it was launched. Strategic stock acquisitions are very common when wealthy group want to sabotage a new competing company. Cover the groups investment with matching short positions and drive the company into the ground. No financial loss and the competitor is dead. MARK THESE WORDS! If I am right, the saboteurs will fold it up before the election so they can perform a Solyndra dance about it on Faux News.

Bottom line, I don't trust anyone who works for Ecotality or Blink.
 
I am gutting a EV ChargeAmerica EVSE and replacing everything with OpenEVSE parts... The same could be done with the Blink, but it would take a bit more work to get the Blinks touchscreen working...



 
really people the goverment PAID for the eq. and like any other electrical or comm device can be bypassed the blinks a very easy to by pass and just plug in and charge. bye bye blink!! cracker barrel would love them to JUST WORK!!!!
 
CWO4Mann said:
.... Like the Solyndra scandal, everything would be sold to the highest bidder. But would the entire tapestry of chargers be sold as one "unit" or would the people who won the land or buildings at which the chargers are deployed buy them? How about this one, since Ecotality would be gone the way of Solyndra, the courts come in and seize every Blink unit installed and auction them off on the courthouse steps. Every Blink unit includes the ones in our garages, of course. On the other hand, maybe Warren Buffoonish will come to the rescue.

Dave, whose Blink Unit will only be taken from My Cold Dead Hands.

scandal?
I thought Solyndra got priced out of its business model with an innovative idea for solar panels when China began underpricing the market.
Companies fail when “the bottom of the market falls out,” Dr. Chu testified before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That, he said, is what happened to the solar panel business, for two reasons that he maintained could not be foreseen.

“This company and several others got caught in a very, very bad tsunami,” he said. New plants to manufacture solar panels started up in China and elsewhere, while the market for the panels was softening because of economic troubles in Europe. Prices dropped 70 percent in two and a half years, he said. ....
Dr. Chu also stressed that private investors had put more than half a billion dollars into Solyndra, which had a new design for lightweight solar modules.

“When it comes to the clean energy race, America faces a simple choice: compete or accept defeat,” he said. “I believe we can and must compete.”

His prepared testimony also made an indirect dig at some members of Congress. “We appreciate the support the loan programs have received from many members of Congress — including nearly 500 letters to the department — who have urged us to accelerate our efforts and to fund worthy projects in their states,” the statement said.
 
thankyouOB said:
CWO4Mann said:
.... Like the Solyndra scandal, everything would be sold to the highest bidder. But would the entire tapestry of chargers be sold as one "unit" or would the people who won the land or buildings at which the chargers are deployed buy them? How about this one, since Ecotality would be gone the way of Solyndra, the courts come in and seize every Blink unit installed and auction them off on the courthouse steps. Every Blink unit includes the ones in our garages, of course. On the other hand, maybe Warren Buffoonish will come to the rescue.

Dave, whose Blink Unit will only be taken from My Cold Dead Hands.

scandal?
I thought Solyndra got priced out of its business model with an innovative idea for solar panels when China began underpricing the market.
Companies fail when “the bottom of the market falls out,” Dr. Chu testified before a subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That, he said, is what happened to the solar panel business, for two reasons that he maintained could not be foreseen.

“This company and several others got caught in a very, very bad tsunami,” he said. New plants to manufacture solar panels started up in China and elsewhere, while the market for the panels was softening because of economic troubles in Europe. Prices dropped 70 percent in two and a half years, he said. ....
Dr. Chu also stressed that private investors had put more than half a billion dollars into Solyndra, which had a new design for lightweight solar modules.

“When it comes to the clean energy race, America faces a simple choice: compete or accept defeat,” he said. “I believe we can and must compete.”

His prepared testimony also made an indirect dig at some members of Congress. “We appreciate the support the loan programs have received from many members of Congress — including nearly 500 letters to the department — who have urged us to accelerate our efforts and to fund worthy projects in their states,” the statement said.


I used the word "scandal" without any inference at all to any political party or elected individual or groups of individuals who may or who may not at present be in elected office.
 
thankyouOB said:
scandal?
I thought Solyndra got priced out of its business model with an innovative idea for solar panels when China began underpricing the market.
That and perhaps even more so, cheap natural gas.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2012/01/ff_solyndra/all/1
Why the Clean Tech Boom Went Bust - By Juliet Eilperin, Wired Magazine, January 20, 2012
Solyndra’s failure wasn’t just the result of manufacturing problems. It was also a product of a broad shift that was happening in the US energy sector. The financial models that had justified the massive investments in clean-energy sources were built on assumptions that the price of fossil fuels, in particular natural gas, would continue to rise. But those models began to fall apart as a natural gas boom transformed the energy landscape.
Not that I think the natural gas boom is a conspiracy, but with respect to oil it's worth remembering that each time the West has seriously moved towards energy independence the oil states have temporarily reduced oil prices enough to lure us back into complacency - and back into gas guzzlers.
 
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