Ecotality filed for bankrupcy and intent to sell all assets

[TomT]

Well, the case is not really sealed... It will slip right over the "seal" without disturbing it. You can take it off and put it back on with no one being the wiser...

I'd like to hear discussion of the possible downside of opening the sealed case at this point and pulling the connectors to make it "dumb".

 

[thankyouOB]

That is more of a legal question. The old "Blink" company would go after people with their lawyers for petty reasons so it's tough to say with the new management of if they still retain their same firm.

did that actually happen, or was it fear-of that we heard about.
i dont recall anyone getting a lawyer letter, at all.

i have never been among the ecotality haters. i got a unit under the federal program (and later so did my employer -- a dozen) and mine was serviced and replaced as needed. the one time it was truly down and wouldnt charge the car, they sent someone out at 6 am the next morning.

 

[davewill]

I certainly have no intention of disconnecting until Blink either breaches the contract, or releases me, or the time limit expires at the end of the year. In fact as long as I can still access the usage data on the dashboard, I'll keep it connected even after that. I would encourage others to do the same.

 

[TaylorSFGuy]

Per my agreement, the unit reverted to me as of December 2012. I did not accept any extensions and Ecotality (Blink) confirmed that I did not extend my contract.

A question for those bankruptcy attorneys in the group - I am under the impression that those filing the affidavits can face legal problems for fraudulently overstating the assets. I certainly can't claim assets I no longer have title to as my own. How can they?

 

[aleph5]

+1. Mine has needed maybe a few simple reboots from the breaker box. A year or more ago a gentleman came out with new FW and installed it via SD card, and it's been virtually stable since. No real complaints, even though I could wish for more features like viewable stats going back more than one month. The display and touch screen sometimes have a mind of their own, but they still work fine once woken up.

But how much did we pay for these and how much did EVSE units cost back when we obtained them? You can't beat free, as long as they work reliably, which mine has.

I did renew my contract, mostly just to throw the company a bone. Good karma. What they were trying to do was laudable, but just not realistic to make it as a standalone business. IMO the whole EV movement needs an Obama stimulus every year for the next 10 years or so. That ought to do it and would be well worth the investment. That's what good government is for. One installment to start Ecotality had no hope. Sure, mistakes were made, but they had to invent a new system. The industry can learn from such mistakes.

Incidentally, maybe their biggest mistake (edit: hardware only) IMO was their overly complicated DC fast chargers. Touch screens are really too unreliable to use there and their big screen TVs are a total and foolish waste.

P.S. I forgot they got the DC fast charge option comped on our cars too. That was worth something, even though I've written off being able to depend on using that feature.

i have never been among the ecotality haters. i got a unit under the federal program (and later so did my employer -- a dozen) and mine was serviced and replaced as needed. the one time it was truly down and wouldnt charge the car, they sent someone out at 6 am the next morning.

 

[aleph5]

BTW, I received a Blink statement just a few days ago. No balance owed, but anybody know what's up with that? Is there anyone there?

 

[oakwcj]

So if our Blink units are not going to be maintained anymore under warranty, is this the time to modify them to take them off the network, per the posted mods?

Well, that's up to the buyer of the assets. They could choose to honor the warranty and thus the existing contract would stay in effect. Since most of the residential units go out of contract at the end of the year, I would expect the purchaser to write off those assets.

I've always thought that it's important to distinguish between Ecotality, the company we all love to hate, and the EV Project, which collects important data on charging patterns. That's why, even though I declined to extend my RPA after the end of last year, I agreed to continue to provide charging data -- in return for continuing the warranty -- until the end of this year. I think the EV Project reports have been useful for advocacy and for planning the future of the charging network. I feel a legal and moral obligation to keep my Blink unit connected to the network until the end of the year. After all, we got these things with federal funds. Ecotality was just a lousy middleman.

 

[oakwcj]

Per my agreement, the unit reverted to me as of December 2012. I did not accept any extensions and Ecotality (Blink) confirmed that I did not extend my contract.

A question for those bankruptcy attorneys in the group - I am under the impression that those filing the affidavits can face legal problems for fraudulently overstating the assets. I certainly can't claim assets I no longer have title to as my own. How can they?

I'm not a bankruptcy attorney, but I doubt they "fraudulently" listed our units. This company was never known for its competence, but even a well-run outfit can make a few mistakes on such a long list.

 

[KillaWhat]

I found mine on the list also.
Interesting that it is listed as an asset, while at this point I consider it a liability.
I absolutely GD Guarantee I can make it cost them more than $168.00 to legally retrieve this thing.
(And I would. I really really would)

I guess I'm between a rock and a legal hard place.
I wrote the people who actually made the overheating J1772 plug (REVO?) asking if they would stand behind it and send me a replacement, and they didn't even answer.

So, next week I'm going to replace this cable assembly at my own expense, violating covenants, voiding warranties, and destroying the air tight integrity of the Blink Capsule!!

I have kicked it off the network, because I didn't want them to de-rate it to 16 amps remotely.

Never a freaking dull moment here in the EV world!!!

 

[Valdemar]

My address is not on the list. I guess I got lucky with my unit, there were a couple of hiccups but it never failed to charge. Rock solid since the memory card was replaced and new firmware installed. J1772 plug is my only ongoing concern. By the way, did anyone manage to sell their Blink, and for how much if so?

 

[TomT]

I plan to leave it alone and on the network until it falls off of its own valiction... If and when it does that, I'll then convert it in to a dumb(er) EVSE

 

[oakwcj]

I found mine on the list also.
Interesting that it is listed as an asset, while at this point I consider it a liability.

It's only an asset for tax purposes. The depreciation is a write-off.

 

[jspearman]

Parked in the now defunct Ecotality office parking lot tonight in Phoenix. Very sad: all units have been pulled out and there is a sign on the door informing the public of a lien against them (not surprising). Glad I didn't need a charge.

 

[DarkStar]

They've requested that the auction be delayed 7 days, changing it from 10/8 to 10/15. I don't see any reason for this to not be approved.

 

[reeler]

They took back my unit when I moved so was relieved to not be on the list from the bankruptcy filings.

So much for them not selling our personal information since it is not on the web for free download.

Expect solicitations from every EVSE, solar and green tech company after they scrape the information from the bankruptcy documents.

 

[TomT]

It's not aggregated with a name, telephone number or email address so I expect no problems...

Expect solicitations from every EVSE, solar and green tech company after they scrape the information from the bankruptcy documents.

 

[LEAFfan]

Parked in the now defunct Ecotality office parking lot tonight in Phoenix. Very sad: all units have been pulled out and there is a sign on the door informing the public of a lien against them (not surprising). Glad I didn't need a charge.

Last Friday, all the L2s and the QC were working at the other office place off of 3rd Ave.

 

[reeler]

Car2Go heavily uses the Blink stations in San Diego. They should buy out those locations for pennies on the dollar. Their business model goes down the drain where there isn't public charging.

In Denver where there is little public charging, Car2Go rolled out with ICE cars instead of electric. That is no the case in San Diego.

They could do billing through their Car2Go infrastructure. Folks with a card could use either their rental cars or plug in their personal car.

 

[pkulak]

So, what's going to happen to all the public stations? There are literally hundreds of them in here in the NW and quite a few fast chargers in really convenient locations with nothing else near them. I've been happily paying my $5 a pop for these. It would be a shame if I had to start going out of my way to Aerovironment stations soon. I did use a Blink QC yesterday and it worked fine...

 

[Randy]

Car2Go heavily uses the Blink stations in San Diego. They should buy out those locations for pennies on the dollar. Their business model goes down the drain where there isn't public charging.

In Denver where there is little public charging, Car2Go rolled out with ICE cars instead of electric. That is no the case in San Diego.

They could do billing through their Car2Go infrastructure. Folks with a card could use either their rental cars or plug in their personal car.

Most of those stations revert ownership to the host sites on 12/31/13 per the host agreements with ECOtality, along with the electrical infrastructure...Hence, it doesn't seem that two months of ownership is worth much.

I think it's a little bit more complicated than just buying the stations. And there's always the issue of the backend network that validates users, turn on the stations, and does billing...It'll be tough to separate that out if regional bids / purchases are done...

I'll be watching the auction results; it'll definitely be very interesting.....