In my EV-news-search travels, I came across:
http://www.miamitodaynews.com/2016/10/25/electric-car-charging-stations-blink-theyre-late/ Electric car charging stations: Blink and they're late October 25, 2016 Blink Network LLC has yet to completed its contract with the City of Miami Beach after being approved nine months ago to install and operate electric car ... which I felt odd about. This isn't the only time Blink is behind on its commitments, see [dated] http://www.plugincars.com/ecotality-electric-car-charging-leader-hits-snags-107895.html ECOtality: Electric Car Charging Leader Admits to Falling Behind September 20, 2011 ... only about 3,000 of the 14,000 chargers (plus 300 commercial units) have been installed ... Blink was globbled up by ccg. But are they still a viable EVSE vendor that anyone (a city) should consider? I mean Blink has given plenty of problems(grief) to drivers (more on that later). So how much does it cost to charge using public Blink EVSE? (see) http://www.blinknetwork.com/drivingelectric Level 2 charger can deliver somewhere between 10 - 25 miles per hour of charging Florida Blink Member $0.39/kWh Blink Guest $0.49/kWh Blink members were not happy when the pricing was changed to the above: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?t=21779 Blink L2 stations being removed from NCTC (No charge to charge) Apr 13, 2016 ... Please be advised that as of Saturday, April 23rd, Blink Level 2 EV charging stations will no longer be participating in Nissan's No Charge to Charge (NCTC) program. Therefore, free charging sessions will no longer be provided to NCTC participants at any Blink L2 stations ... ... https://longtailpipe.com/2014/09/17/is-blink-gouging-us-with-new-kilowa/ Is Blink gouging us with the new kilowatt-hour pricing model? September 17, 2014 The change two weeks ago by Blink Networks to switch from per-hour pricing to per-kilowatt-hour pricing has caused an eruption of anger among Blink members. The change was supposed to solve another big problem – Blink’s habit of rounding up session fees to the next hour even when the elapsed time is only 1 minute beyond the hour. That is, a 1 hour 1 minute session under the old rules would cost $2 rather than $1 and a few cents. But under the per-kilowatt-hour pricing rules, that session would cost nearly $3 (depending on locale) ... Lets assume Miami drivers won't charge away from home much and opt for the $.49pkWh guest rate. According to: https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/spt_electric_cars-Miami_L5213 there are mostly Leaf EVs in Miami, FL. So, figuring those lower cost 24kW Leaf EVs have an easy 75+mi range, that drivers will unplug at the 80%SOC point (to avoid a slower charging rate), and since no-one comes in empty, will have about 10mi in reserve when they begin their charge: 75mi-range Leaf * 80% = 60mi | 60mi-10mi (reserve) = 50mi They will have 50mi of range to replenish. Since only 21kWh is used in the 24kWh pack: 21kWh* 80%= 16.8kWh | 16.8kWh * (50/60)= 14kWh | 14kWh * $.49= $6.86 Using Blink will cost $6.86 to replenish those 50mi. Versus 2 gallons of dino-juice for 50mi in a 25mpg ice car: http://www.miamigasprices.com/Miami_Beach/index.aspx $2.35/gal * 2 = $4.70 (Blink is not cheap to use) Then there are the problem with the Blink EVSE hardware, see: http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?49177-Has-anyone-had-their-Blink-charger-serviced -I have 2 Blinks and have had a technician out 4 times. -my Blink charger first started giving me problems -problem with the touch screen not working Also, there was an overheating coupler issue that Blink's solution was to cut the charging current, see: https://chargedevs.com/newswire/blink-charging-stations-to-be-restored-to-30-amp-capacity-2/ problem was the cord set, which could overheat or melt at a current level of 30 Amps, so it decided to reduce the amperage of the chargers to 24 Amps ... http://gm-volt.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-129241.html they have remotely throttled down the amperage to 24amps ... http://insideevs.com/carcharging-promissing-to-bring-blink-level-2-back-to-30-amps/ CarCharging Promises To Bring Blink Level 2 Back To 30 Amps -So, did Blink resolve the above issue, and now these 30A/6kW truly provide full power? -Are all the hardware, software, and networking issues now resolved, since ccg took over? -Is Blink a viable EVSE choice either for home or for public use? Now that much has changed in the public EVSe market (plenty of competitors, and now cheaper, more reliable EVSE to be had, etc.), Blink's slowness has left it far behind and is no longer a viable choice. What is your opinion? For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ {brucedp.0catch.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/Don-t-Blink-tp4684294.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
