I'm sure most of you like I have already decided that paying for electricity outside of your home, doesn't make sense for the PIP. But the Blink Network just took it all to another new terrible level. I parked in downtown LA at one of their chargers last month knowing full well that I would be charged $1/hour or $2 for my 1.5 hours of charge but it was fun and I figured somehow worth it. I was ultimately charged $8 for 7.5 hours of charge even though I only used 1.5 hours. Why? Because that's their policy now - you're charged for the entire time your car is plugged in NOT the amount of time you are ACTUALLY charging. I understand their reasoning - they don't want people to just park there for long periods of time but seriously, how about letting people KNOW THAT before they plug in. AND out of 4 spaces or so, there was only one other car parked there by the time I left.
So after driving the requisite 12 miles on that charge it cost you the equivalent of $64 per gallon of gasoline. I won't even use the $1 per hour chargers. Considering the amount of electricity and the range it gets me it's the equivalent of paying $16 per gallon.
Chargers should start charging by the kwh, especially with the different charging speeds. Do the Volt, C-Max wtv PHV, 500e, Nissan Leaf, etc. all charge at the same rate? I saw that San Diego is going to charge $0.50 per kwh with their new system. I think $0.25 per kwh would be better.
Yes, it's ridiculous. I called and ultimately, they credited most of it back to me but I won't be using Blink again and will definitely let my membership/card expire when it comes up for renewal.
Actually, ChargePoint does the same thing apparently. You have to be careful. All blink chargers charge for the amount of time you're connected. The ChargePoint chargers that charge per hour also charge for the amount of time you're connected. However, there ARE some CP chargers that charge per kWh. You just have to find them via plugshare or CP's own app.
Yea, I noticed Charge Point will send me an email that charging is finished, but when I return to the car the EVSE display still keeps the charging time ticker counting.
Went to Ikea in Costa Mesa and noticed that the Blink chargers now wanted $1.50 an hour. I hit cancel on the screen. Plugged it into my car and went into the store. It just doesn't make any financial sense for PiP to pay that much. Its cheaper to use gas at 55+ mpg.
I've used only one Chargepoint charger (although I have used it a few times) and since it's free (public parking structure in Beverly Hills), it didn't register that it would continue to charge even after it was finished charging. The whole thing is insane to think that anyone - other than Ford Focus or Tesla owners who charge at a much faster rate - would want to use any charger that has a cost associated to it.
Here's a realtime ChargePoint graph of my typical morning charge- along with the associated email text I get when it thinks my charge is complete... I don't see how it's confusing, the 3rd line of text under the graph graph states: "Power : 0.000 kW"
Rob, Since it was free I didn't really look at the email to see what I would be charged, etc. - that was my point. Since the charge was free I was also not charged for any time "not" charging but plugged in. Make sense?
Yup- I get it. Re Blink- I guess their policy of charging $$ as long as you're connected rather than charging for actual usage maximizes their profit and encourages you to vacate the charger as soon as you're done charging.
Allow me to be devil's advocate here: 1. I would gladly pay $8 for 7.5 hour parking in downtown SF or downtown Boston or most any other major cities. I paid the maximum daily $36 parking lot fee in Boston and SF a few months ago when I parked less than 4 hours without any charge at all. 2. Full EV owners would be extremely upset that a PiP that only required 1.5 hours to charge took up an additional 6 hours. Heck, even I would be upset that a PiP was taking up a spot and not charging. Common courtesy would be to move after you are full so others can take advantage of the spot. You say there were open spots when you left but were there open spots the entire 7.5 hours? 3. The electricity and the charging stations cost money. Their respective owners expect to recoup that cost somehow. I don't claim to know what the business model is. Maybe they decided the increased traffic from EV owners with distance limitations is more important than the PHEV owners like us who don't have the same limitations. I mean, if I owned a Leaf, I wouldn't go to a place that is greater than my EV round trip range unless I knew I had access to a charging station. With my PiP, I don't have range anxieties. 4. I'm not trying to be hostile here. I'm just presenting another point of view. In conclusion, I agree with you. I don't plan on paying for public charging. It doesn't making financial sense, unless it's at a place where I have to pay for parking.anyway.
I completely understand their logic and business savvy but nothing I ever read on the website or posted at the charging station implied any of the policy. At the end of the day, I was just doing it for fun on that particular day because I was downtown and had someone with me who wanted to see how it worked so I figured $2 was no big deal. At the end of the day, it was more about showing off the technology than anything else. I certainly wouldn't have left my car plugged in all that time if I had known. Oh well. Live and learn.
The kicker is that I had FREE parking at that location and I only used the Blink charger because I had someone with me who wanted to see how it works and I thought it would be fun. There were NO other cars plugged in when I got there and only ONE Volt when I left. I agree that people shouldn't hog up chargers but that was just not the case on this particular day in that particular location.
