In case others have dismissed chargepoint due to the $4.95 card fee or the $25 minimum deposit, you can call in and get a free card and free account created without having to give them your credit card or any kind of payment info; Just phone number, email, and address. Still waiting for my card, but had a free station remote unlocked for me today. It was pretty cool. 1-888-758-4389
I am a free ChargePoint account user. The trouble is, although ChargePoint is the most common L2 public charger network here in the Washington DC area, most real estate parking managers with ChargePoints on premises insist on a $2/hour add-on charge (grrr). So, I mostly charge at home.
...although the Arts Building (the one just northeast of the traffic circle on Nebraska Avenue) at American University in NW DC has free Level 2 chargers in the south end of the parking structure, and the parking itself is free after business hours... FYI for anyone with a PiP, planning to go to an A.U. cultural event.
I also requested a ChargePoint card via phone call last week. Until it arrived last Monday I phoned ChargePoint to unlock the free station at work for a week straight... no problems other than them asking for your name, contact # and email address each time which wasted a few min. My card arrived Monday- so I activated it Monday night- yes, the card was free because I requested it by phone- but you still have to put a $25 deposit down on the account to activate the free card- I didn't see any way around that. At any rate- that $25 deposit will never be used because I only use the free station near my job. BTW- the free card you get by requesting it by phone is the mini-card that hangs off your keychain- not the full credit card size card and the mini card- just the mini card.
Yea, we have a lot like that also What a bummer. I guess I will keep calling. This thing gets 50 mpg's on gas, I am not gonna pay a premium for electricity....Well unless its from Edison that is.
My card (free by phone a few months ago) was able to be activated without a deposit or credit card number. AFAIK the deposit or credit card is only necessary if you want to use the paid stations, which don't make sense for a PiP or probably any other plug-in. IIRC I activated it on their web site.
Good point! There were two radio buttons on the activation page- one said "all stations" the other said "free stations only" I didn't think it made a difference- but maybe my choice of "all stations" triggered the $25 deposit? Anyway, it's not a dealbreaker for me to put down a $25 deposit- who knows, maybe some day I'll actually need to use a pay-for station...
No PiP should "need to use a pay-for station." I mean, most of us are either incurably green or unreasonably compulsive, but does it make sense to pay $3 or more for a 12 mile charge to save $1 worth of gas?
current promotion: 2 free cards if you sign up with $25 deposit. Anyone know whether you can get the deposit back if you do not use it?
