Suggested change for Blink DCQC: Netflix

One thing I have to concede about the Blink DC fast charge stations is that they've got an integrated home theatre system far superior to any other EV charging equipment I've ever seen. It must have about a five-foot diagonal, full-color screen with about six thousand lumens of punch behind it. It may not be possible to tell how far your charge has progressed until you exit your car and get close enough to read the eight-point "percent of charge" readout on the Blink's cellphone-sized active interface, but with a good pair of binoculars, residents of the International Space Station would have no trouble watching the "how to be a delighted Blink user" movie that runs, 24/7, on the only part of the Blink equipment that actually works reliably: its JumboTron. Blink should play to this obvious strength, and amp up the sound systems of their parking-lot theatre installations, and remove the confusing electric vehicle charging features that don't work anyway. Instead, allow drivers (particularly parents in a shopping mall parking lot) to pull up next to the station, rent a movie of their choice for that slick display, and leave the kids enthralled in the car while they go tend to the weekly shopping. Kind of a two-car drive-in theatre.

Though the only time I actually need the nearby Blink DCQC station is on those days (about once a week) when the Blink EVSE in my garage freaks out over an imaginary ground fault and refuses to charge my car, I have been stopping in fairly often to try and show appreciation for the merchant's (Fred Meyer in Tigard, OR) provision of a DCQC. I actually had two successful charging sessions during the first few weeks the unit was online. Since then, though, it's been nonfunctional due to a varying mix of: inability to contact its home office to verify Zip codes and inoperative touchscreen. Today, both touchscreens were displaying "This connector is out of service; use the other one" screens. Recargo has the charger as being "Available - updated 8 minutes ago", despite my "hey, this charger is broken" report half an hour prior.

The could put "Who Killed the Electric Car" and "Revenge of the Electric Car" in rotation on the screens.

Well, since you are only supposed to charge for ~30 minutes, perhaps episodes of some TV show instead.

Actually, seriously, it might be nice if it could switch to CNN satellite feed while charging...

I noticed it takes over 6 months between a Blink DCQC being powered up and actually count on being able to use it. First they are ICEd, then Emergency Shutdown is pushed by "friendly" people, next they are vandalized. Finally EVs are starting to use them and the plugs get broken until the users learn to use them. After that hardware starts to fail and it takes Blink weeks to fix it.

I refused to use public L2 because I do not believe it is a long term solution (even when it was free). But now I am not sure Blink DCQC are going to be around long term either.