Blink QC charging fees

[sc540i]

So how long has it been since blink started charging for QC? Last time I charged a month ago at Harvard Market on capitol hill it was still free.

Blink QC started charging fee from the last week of July. I did not realize for the first few charges until looking close to the message after signed in with your Blink card. Again all Blink QC I have used in my area are limited to 34 mins / session of a charge.

 

[GRA]

,,,At the moment, QCs in the S.F. Bay Area are located so that their primary usefulness is for inter-city trips within the 9-county metropolitan area. Only the QC in Fairfield [Edit: meant the one in Vacaville; IMO Fairfield would be a better location for Bay-Sacto]....

Note report of the NEW DC in Fairfield under const. as of 8/6.

http://www.plugshare.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I drove by after my DC at Vacaville last week, but didn't have time to check it out myself.

Yeah, I saw that a week or two ago, but since it more or less coincided with ECOtality announcing their impending bankruptcy I figured it was questionable whether it would open. Besides, although having another on the I-80 corridor between SAC-SF is good, it's not in the best place in Fairfield. I want one at the Cordelia Junction where 80, 680 and 12 all come together, and it's about equidistant between the two metropolitan areas. Although it involves a small detour, this location would also serve Napa Valley traffic. Green Valley shopping center would be my choice, as there's a Starbucks, several restaurants, a Costco and CVS there, among others.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I think most posters are very confused about what you're paying for. The idea seems to be that you're paying for a kWh. Blink can't charge per kWh so you want them to do the next best thing and charge per minute.

on the blink website; they admitted they did not have the tech to charge by any other means than per session. guessing they are working on resolving that issue.

for those you that are not familiar with their site, they also do not have a direct way of telling you how much Kwh you have used. you must figure it out on your own...or I simply have not figured out where to find the info.

either way; they have ALL the appearance of using a high school software club for their website design but then again, ALL the high schools around here could write circles around what they have...

http://daveinolywa.blogspot.com/2013/08/blink-qcs-starting-5-fees-in-northwest.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

So how long has it been since blink started charging for QC? Last time I charged a month ago at Harvard Market on capitol hill it was still free.

Blink QC started charging fee from the last week of July. I did not realize for the first few charges until looking close to the message after signed in with your Blink card. Again all Blink QC I have used in my area are limited to 34 mins / session of a charge.

in this area, they started aug 22nd. its kinda funny though because before all this, Ecotality was pathetically slow with installs. it took weeks to get anything up and running. But now, its a matter of a few days. We have had several turned on last week...

 

[LEAFfan]

So how long has it been since blink started charging for QC? Last time I charged a month ago at Harvard Market on capitol hill it was still free.

Here, it started around June 6th.

 

[Luft]

on the blink website; they admitted they did not have the tech to charge by any other means than per session. guessing they are working on resolving that issue.

I don't believe for a second that it would be any kind of technical challenge for ECOtally to charge by whatever means that they want. If they can figure out that you have charged one minute more than an hour they obviously know the amount of time you have spent plugged in. Perhaps they need the very complex mathematical formula to accomplish this task. Okay ECOtally: the formula that is apparently alluding you is M*R=amount where M is the time in minutes and R is the rate per minute. I hope this helps.

 

[knightarmor]

I'm just ranting here but what idiot thought carrying around an RFID card for each manufacturer of chargers was a good idea? Why didn't/haven't they just added a credit card swiper like at every gas station. Seriously WTF?????

 

[davewill]

I'm just ranting here but what idiot thought carrying around an RFID card for each manufacturer of chargers was a good idea? Why didn't/haven't they just added a credit card swiper like at every gas station. Seriously WTF?????

It's the very small transaction values that make using credit cards impractical. Even at that, in my case they end up doing $3-4 transactions because even over a whole month I don't use much public charging.

 

[user 10599]

I'm just ranting here but what idiot thought carrying around an RFID card for each manufacturer of chargers was a good idea? Why didn't/haven't they just added a credit card swiper like at every gas station. Seriously WTF?????

There's a few important details like PCI-DSS compliance and the enhanced potential for fraud with unattended credit card swipe points. They have actually put in a place a system that fairly efficiently alleviates many of those risks, though I wouldn't venture so far as to say they have completely eliminated such risk.

Yes, it is annoying having to obtain and carry multiple RFID cards. But I much prefer the reduced risk of improper charges on my credit card because someone tampered with the reader.

 

[user 10599]

How long does it take to get the card from Blink? I signed up 8/14. Still no card despite a second request.

Charge Point got me their card within a week. But most of the stations near me seem to be Blink. So far, these are the only two networks I've found close by.

 

[Deleted member 8423]

I'm just ranting here but what idiot thought carrying around an RFID card for each manufacturer of chargers was a good idea? Why didn't/haven't they just added a credit card swiper like at every gas station. Seriously WTF?????

Guess they figured most EV drivers wouldn't be luddites afraid of convenient new technologies.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

How long does it take to get the card from Blink? I signed up 8/14. Still no card despite a second request.

Charge Point got me their card within a week. But most of the stations near me seem to be Blink. So far, these are the only two networks I've found close by.

make another request for a card. been a few years but when I requested mine, i waited a MONTH, (back then there was only a handful of blink stations anyway and no fast chargers so it was hardly vital...) and nothing. so ordered another one. waited 2 weeks, called tech support and they said they saw the card in the system and it would be there in a few days. i received one in mail 3 days later and later found out it had been ordered the day I called them.

2 days later i received another card and the next day another... need a card?