As I mentioned above, at least at my local chargers they seem to have made considerable improvements in reliability - for the first 9-10 months there always seemed to be one or two out of order, and sometimes as many as five. Course, it took considerable nagging by me and possibly others to get them to come out and fix the units that were inop, but considering how few were ever needed at the same time maybe it made short-term financial sense, if not doing anything for their reputation.JPWhite wrote:Blink / Carcharging have clearly made some back-end improvements. The dashboard for instance renders much more quickly, station status tends to be updated quickly.pkulak wrote: It has seemed accurate to me lately. As in, most say they are inoperable on the map.
However the state of units in the field, (although initially improved after the purchase of Blink by Carcharging), has deteriorated once again, with units going un-serviced 2+ months after a case being established/acknowledged by customer support. They don't seem to send out maintenance crews very often or at all from what I can tell.
Judging by their financial losses and poor field maintenance, they are looking very much like Blink did before they declared bankruptcy. Maybe Car-charging can generate some private funding to keep them going where Ecotality couldn't.
Reflecting on what initially looks like a suicidal pricing structure, I've come to the conclusion they may not be as crazy as it first appears they are. One thing that may save them is "no charge to charge". It maybe that revenues from individual members may not be their primary focus anymore. CarCharging maybe raising prices to get more money faster, mostly out of the Nissan "no charge to charge" program. They may be able to shore up their balance sheet in the short term and sellout before they implode. No charge to charge could keep them limping along for 2+ years.
That being said, it would be pretty curious if they could find someone to sell out to, unless they've upgraded the units internally so that the have become more reliable. You'd think anyone would do due diligence before buying them out, but then the same logic should have applied to Car Charging re Ecotality, so maybe history will repeat itself.