Blink membership plans & fees (Warning : new RPA required)

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I'll stick with the guest usage. I don't mind paying $2 per hour on a rare occasion that I might need a charge. I suppose if there were more chargers in the area that I could use on a regular basis when I go to all of the places I go, I'd consider the monthly subscription.
 
adric22 said:
I'll stick with the guest usage. I don't mind paying $2 per hour on a rare occasion that I might need a charge. I suppose if there were more chargers in the area that I could use on a regular basis when I go to all of the places I go, I'd consider the monthly subscription.
IMO, the only reason you wouldn't sign up would be if you don't want to provide your info to Blink for some reason, or there aren't any Blink stations in your area.

Otherwise, the Basic membership is free, and the Plus membership is free right now, too If you find that you rarely or never use their stations, downgrade from the Plus to the Basic before they charge you. There is no downside to signing up for the Plus membership at this time that I can see.

As for paying more to "fuel" the LEAF compared to an "ICE" - as I said I have no issue with it if a well placed EVSE lets me get where I need to go!
 
drees said:
I see lots of complaining about prices here, but in reality - are you really going to plug in unless you really need it anyway at any price unless it's cheaper than charging at home?
At home I pay about 11 cents/kWh or 40 cents/hour. I don't mind paying double the rate.

So, I don't mind paying about $1/hour.
 
Anyone knows what is the revenue sharing formula from the revenue collected? How much of it goes to Ecotality, and how much of it goes to the sponsoring organization?
 
I decided to sign up for the "Basic" membership as well: there are no additional fees and at least my CC is on file in case I really need a charge. The question is: how bad will I need a charge to actually PAY for it (the answer is: pretty bad). Right now there's more Blinks near me than ChargePoint chargers, and I'm curious if/when ChargePoint will expand their network (I really like their hardware/setup better than Blink's).
 
I already have a Blink card that I have used once or twice. Does this mean that if I do nothing, at some point my Blink card will not work? Will I have to sign up for some level of service and provide credit card information?
 
In order to sign up for a membership plan, you are required to agree to an amended RPA [residential property agreement], even though the memberships are for commercial charging only. In my case, clicking on the acceptance would extend the termination date of my agreement from December 31, 2012, until April 30, 2014, and would give Ecotality the unilateral power to make further changes to the agreement. There is another thread on Ecotality's attempts to amend contracts already in effect. I was never asked to agree to the amendments, and would not have done so. This is an incredibly sneaky and underhanded attempt to accomplish the same result through different means. If you are considering signing up for a membership plan, read the agreements carefully and decide whether you really want to do this.
 
oakwcj said:
clicking on the acceptance would extend the termination date of my agreement from December 31, 2012, until April 30, 2014, and would give Ecotality the unilateral power to make further changes to the agreement.

That needs to be highlighted, and repeated. Slimy, slimy, slimy.
 
oakwcj said:
In order to sign up for a membership plan, you are required to agree to an amended RPA [residential property agreement], even though the memberships are for commercial charging only. In my case, clicking on the acceptance would extend the termination date of my agreement from December 31, 2012, until April 30, 2014, and would give Ecotality the unilateral power to make further changes to the agreement. There is another thread on Ecotality's attempts to amend contracts already in effect. I was never asked to agree to the amendments, and would not have done so. This is an incredibly sneaky and underhanded attempt to accomplish the same result through different means. If you are considering signing up for a membership plan, read the agreements carefully and decide whether you really want to do this.
What!? This is incredibly sneaky if true.

Can we get the spouse to sign up for a separate account to get a separate RFID card?
 
greenleaf said:
What!? This is incredibly sneaky if true.

Can we get the spouse to sign up for a separate account to get a separate RFID card?
I just click through the sign-up procedure.

Yes, it is true. You are required to agree to the new residential agreement. The new agreement is discussed here:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=6744" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
greenleaf said:
Yes, it is true. You are required to agree to the new residential agreement. The new agreement is discussed here:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=6744" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Looks only for people in Bay Area. Is that correct ?
 
evnow said:
greenleaf said:
Yes, it is true. You are required to agree to the new residential agreement. The new agreement is discussed here:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=6744" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Looks only for people in Bay Area. Is that correct ?
I suspect the RPA (residential participation agreement) is amended in all areas. Anyone else want to provide feedback? You need to click on the "RPA Terms and Conditions" link in the signup screen to see it.

If you look at the signup page shown below, you will notice how easy it is to simply check "I agree" without actually reading the new agreement.

 
evnow said:
greenleaf said:
Yes, it is true. You are required to agree to the new residential agreement. The new agreement is discussed here:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=6744" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Looks only for people in Bay Area. Is that correct ?

No. The April 30, 2014 termination date is only for the Bay Area, but the change to allow Ecotality to make further amendments without mutual consent of the parties applies to everybody:

13. Changes. ECOtality has the right to unilaterally change the terms of this agreement and Participant shall be deemed to have automatically agreed to such changes if the Participant continues using the EVSE after receiving the changes. If Participant does not agree to such changes: the Participant must inform ECOtality in writing, addressed to ECOtality’s corporate address, within five (5) of days after such changes, doing so permits ECOtality to terminate this agreement.

The agreement changes the termination date to April 30, 2013 for everyone. I understand that some people already have this termination date, but many of us have a December 31, 2012, termination date. There are also specific provisions relating to San Diego and Los Angeles. All of this is irrelevant, because paragraph 13 allows Ecotality to do whatever it wants with complete impunity.
 
What sucks is the Leaf charges using a 3.3k watt charger so if you drive a Ford EV you get twice the charge for the same price that is not fair.


Next question.

I have 2 blink RFID card already do I need to sign up to use them?
 
oakwcj said:
13. Changes. ECOtality has the right to unilaterally change the terms of this agreement and Participant shall be deemed to have automatically agreed to such changes if the Participant continues using the EVSE after receiving the changes. If Participant does not agree to such changes: the Participant must inform ECOtality in writing, addressed to ECOtality’s corporate address, within five (5) of days after such changes, doing so permits ECOtality to terminate this agreement.

As bad as it seems - isn't that almost a universal corporate practice ? In all things from credit cards to satellite tv services.
 
evnow said:
As bad as it seems - isn't that almost a universal corporate practice ? In all things from credit cards to satellite tv services.
Yes, but in those cases, you can always simply cancel on them if they do something too onerous. if I'm reading this right, the penalty for refusing to accept new conditions would end up being surrendering my Blink...which seems a bit much to just give away when I already have a perfectly reasonable agreement in place with them. If they want to collect data for a longer period, I'm all for it and would be happy to cooperate, but I'm not going to let them hold my EVSE hostage to whatever conditions they want to think up, and allow them to move the "I own it" date out.
 
evnow said:
oakwcj said:
13. Changes. ECOtality has the right to unilaterally change the terms of this agreement and Participant shall be deemed to have automatically agreed to such changes if the Participant continues using the EVSE after receiving the changes. If Participant does not agree to such changes: the Participant must inform ECOtality in writing, addressed to ECOtality’s corporate address, within five (5) of days after such changes, doing so permits ECOtality to terminate this agreement.

As bad as it seems - isn't that almost a universal corporate practice ? In all things from credit cards to satellite tv services.

It's true that contracts of adhesion always favor the party with the greater bargaining power, but the context here is completely different.

President Obama is a fan of EVs. He put a $100 million appropriation into the Stimulus Act to subsidize and jump-start EV infrastructure. The $7,500 Federal Income Tax Credit is a subsidy to encourage sales of EVs. These sums are paltry compared to federal subsidies of the oil industry and interstate highways.

Ecotality won the contract with the Department of Energy for the EV Project. Ecotality is a middleman. They didn't give the EVSEs to us. They got a federal contract to do it. The original contract I signed stipulated that I would get ownership of the EVSE at the end of the contract term in return for supplying usage data to the EV Project. The contract specified that it could be amended only with the consent of both parties. Later on, Ecotality entered into some additional contracts with regional air quality agencies, and obviously realized that the contract wouldn't allow them to meet the conditions of their new deals. That's what led them to try this scheme of turning contracts with quite reasonable conditions into the typical one-sided consumer contract used by banks and TV providers. But these EVSEs don't really belong to Ecotality. They're double-dipping by using hardware paid for by the Federal government to facilitate their new contracts with local and regional agencies. If Ecotality came to me and said, please be a good citizen and help the Bay Area Air Quality Management District compile good data, I'd say sure. That's quite a different kettle of fish than letting Ecotality retain title to my EVSE along with the power to unilaterally change the terms of the agreement according to Ecotality's whim. My contract is with Ecotality acting as Steven Chu's agent; it's not with Ecotality, the profit-seeking company.
 
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