Ecotality filed for bankrupcy and intent to sell all assets

[UkrainianKozak]

Getting Name from address is a trivial thing from county records (unless you rent your house) and getting the phone is piece of cake as well, unless you explicitely paying your phone company to not include your name in the phone book...

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.

 

[TomT]

Let's see... My house is in the name of a trust with no direct cross reference, and my phone number is VOIP and unlisted and unpublished... So, nothing here to see; move along!

Getting Name from address is a trivial thing from county records (unless you rent your house) and getting the phone is piece of cake as well, unless you explicitely paying your phone company to not include your name in the phone book...

 

[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.

Quick update: The request to delay the auction was denied by the court and will be taking place today.

I've already scraped all the Blink Host Agreement addresses in case the new owner decides to shut down the network. Most site host contracts expired 12/31/2012, so it will probably be dependent on who buys it and what they want to do. Either way, I want to make sure the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association is ready to help site hosts keep their Blink units functional for the public.

 

[pkulak]

Quick update: The request to delay the auction was denied by the court and will be taking place today.

I've already scraped all the Blink Host Agreement addresses in case the new owner decides to shut down the network. Most site host contracts expired 12/31/2012, so it will probably be dependent on who buys it and what they want to do. Either way, I want to make sure the Oregon Electric Vehicle Association is ready to help site hosts keep their Blink units functional for the public.

If you get any more information, could you post it here? I'll be monitoring this thread closely. Thanks for the info!

 

[walterbays]

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? http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3279

I emailed Ecotality yesterday to open a service ticket on my rare ground fault events (orange screen) which I've learned on MNL are probably due to a faulty crimp, and on my J1772 cable which works fine now but may melt if I get another car with 6.6 kW charger. I just wanted to get the warranty issues in the record in case the new owners decide to operate Blink as an ongoing business and honor the existing contracts. I hadn't expected anyone would even be there to read my message.

To my surprise I got a quick and polite reply, assuring me the issues were logged and informing me (as I knew) that maintenance was on hold pending bankruptcy. I've always thought that Blink had some good people working under some terrible management. I hope a new owner does decide to operate the company, and that they extend job offers to those remaining Blink employees who are good.

 

[Randy]

They posted a long document that seems to have every ECOtality customer name and email address....

http://www.kccllc.net/ecotality/document/1316126131007000000000028" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kinda goes along with another document I saw yesterday that has street addresses for ECOtality customers....

 

[Valdemar]

They posted a long document that seems to have every ECOtality customer name and email address....

http://www.kccllc.net/ecotality/document/1316126131007000000000028" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kinda goes along with another document I saw yesterday that has street addresses for ECOtality customers....

Oh-oh, spam incoming It is probably too late now, but is there anything that can be done to prevent them from leaking personal customer data?

 

[oakwcj]

They posted a long document that seems to have every ECOtality customer name and email address....

http://www.kccllc.net/ecotality/document/1316126131007000000000028" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kinda goes along with another document I saw yesterday that has street addresses for ECOtality customers....

Oh-oh, spam incoming It is probably too late now, but is there anything that can be done to prevent them from leaking personal customer data?

I doubt it. It's a service list. Proof of service is required to establish that we received notice of the potential cancellation of our warranties. The court file is a public record.

 

[DarkStar]

Tellus Power Inc. entered an opening bid of $3mm yesterday. Haven't heard anything for today yet...

 

[Deleted member 8423]

They posted a long document that seems to have every ECOtality customer name and email address....

http://www.kccllc.net/ecotality/document/1316126131007000000000028" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kinda goes along with another document I saw yesterday that has street addresses for ECOtality customers....

What a remarkably shitty thing for them to do. I appreciate you posting it here to bring it to everyone's attention.

 

[TomT]

They don't really have a lot of choice... It is a legal and court requirement to support notice...

What a remarkably shitty thing for them to do. I appreciate you posting it here to bring it to everyone's attention.

 

[Randy]

http://www.kccllc.net/ecotality/document/1316126131009000000000009" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After review, the highest and best bids for the ECOtality auction were submitted by Blink Acquisition, LLC, Access Control Group, LLC, and Intertek Testing Services Inc., for an aggregate purchase price of $4.335 million, with each party agreeing to purchase separate assets.

Court approval for the bids will be sought today at 1:30pm MST at the Sale Hearing.

 

[DarkStar]

The basic terms of the Successful Bids submitted by the Buyers are as follows:

(i) Intertek will pay $750,000 for the eTec Labs business line and assume the Assumed Liabilities (as defined in the Agreement with Intertek), including payment or satisfaction of Cure Amounts associated with the Assigned Contracts and Assigned Leases to be assumed and assigned to Intertek pursuant to the Agreement with Intertek.

(ii) Access Control will pay $250,000 for the Minit-Charger business line and assume the Assumed Liabilities (as defined in the Agreement with Access Control), including payment or satisfaction of Cure Amounts associated with the Assigned Contracts and Assigned Leases to be assumed and assigned to Access Control pursuant to the Agreement with Access Control.

(iii) Blink Acquisition will pay $3,335,000 for the Blink Network business line and assume the Assumed Liabilities (as defined in the Agreement with Blink Acquisition), including payment or satisfaction of Cure Amounts associated with the Assigned Contracts and Assigned Leases to be assumed and assigned to Blink Acquisition pursuant to the Agreement with Blink Acquisition.

If the courts approve this, consummation is supposed to take place on Friday, October 11th.

No other info has been posted about "Blink Acquisition," but if I had to guess, it is probably a few companies working in cooperation (like Nissan). Please post if you have any details!

 

[evnow]

Interesting - they formed a company (?) just to acquire Blink network. Surprised they actually paid money - and didn't ask for some

Wonder whether it includes warranty repairs on Blink.

 

[thankyouOB]

did we ever do a tutorial on the site to show how to turn the BLINK into a dumb unit.
I am not ready to do it now, but would do so later.

 

[webfootguy]

For a good look at all the docs that were filed in this case, use google to search for "Case No. 2:13-BK-16126 (RJH)" in quotes.
An interesting read (but a bit heavy on the legal mumbo jumbo).

Phil H.

 

[Randy]

Or you could just click on this link:

http://www.kccllc.net/ecotality/document/list/3704?nh=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[cdub]

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? http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3279

I emailed Ecotality yesterday to open a service ticket on my rare ground fault events (orange screen) which I've learned on MNL are probably due to a faulty crimp, and on my J1772 cable which works fine now but may melt if I get another car with 6.6 kW charger. I just wanted to get the warranty issues in the record in case the new owners decide to operate Blink as an ongoing business and honor the existing contracts. I hadn't expected anyone would even be there to read my message.

To my surprise I got a quick and polite reply, assuring me the issues were logged and informing me (as I knew) that maintenance was on hold pending bankruptcy. I've always thought that Blink had some good people working under some terrible management. I hope a new owner does decide to operate the company, and that they extend job offers to those remaining Blink employees who are good.

Wait - Ecotality and Blink are the same company? I have this same problem. I called them to fix it but never heard back from them. Maybe this is why.

 

[ttweed]

did we ever do a tutorial on the site to show how to turn the BLINK into a dumb unit.

I posted the link to Ingineer's thread for doing that back on page 2 of this thread.

Here it is again: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3279
TT

 

[DarkStar]

And now we know who's behind Blink Acquisition:

From http://ir.stockpr.com/carcharging/company-news/detail/1514/carcharging-successfully-wins-bid-to-purchase-ecotalitys-blink-assets:

CarCharging Successfully Wins Bid to Purchase ECOtality's Blink Assets

Leading Electric Vehicle Charging Service Provider Intends to Purchase Blink's More Than 12,000 EV Charging Stations and Operating System

MIAMI BEACH, Fla., Oct. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Blink Acquisition, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Car Charging Group, Inc. (OTCQB: CCGI) ("CarCharging"), a nationwide provider of convenient electric vehicle (EV) charging services, announced today that it has successfully won the bid to purchase the Blink related assets of ECOtality, a clean electric transportation and storage technology firm.

The assets included in the transaction are all of Blink's inventory, the more than 12,450 installed electric vehicle Level II charging stations, the 110 DC Fast charging stations, and the Blink network, which is the turnkey operating system for EV drivers, commercial businesses, and utilities, that services the Blink stations.

"Since our inception, CarCharging's intent has been to grow our business organically and through acquisitions, and with the purchase of ECOtality's Blink assets, we believe that it will solidify our position as the leader in the electric vehicle charging industry," stated CarCharging's Chief Executive Officer, Michael D. Farkas.

The deal does not include Minit-Charger, which manufactures and distributes fast-charging systems for material handling and airport ground support vehicles; or ETEC LABS, ECOtality's research and testing resource for governments, automotive OEMs and utilities. The transaction is anticipated to close shortly.

About Car Charging Group, Inc.
Car Charging Group, Inc. (OTCQB: CCGI) is a pioneer in nationwide public EV charging services, enabling EV drivers to easily recharge at locations throughout the United States. Headquartered in Miami Beach, FL with offices in San Jose, CA; New York, NY; and Barcelona, Spain; CarCharging's business model is designed to accelerate the adoption of public EV charging services.

CarCharging provides a comprehensive turnkey program to commercial and residential property owners for EV charging services. CarCharging owns and operates the EV charging equipment; pays for all installation, maintenance, and related services; and shares the EV charging revenue with the property owner. Thereby, eliminating capital costs for the property owners, and providing a potential additional stream of revenue.

CarCharging has 87 strategic partnerships across multiple business sectors including multi-family residential and commercial properties, parking garages, shopping malls, retail parking, and municipalities. CarCharging's partners include, but are not limited to Walgreens, Simon Property Group, Equity One, Equity Residential, Forest City, Ace Parking, Central/USA Parking, Icon Parking, Rapid Parking, Parking Concepts, CVS, Related Management, Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, City of Miami Beach (FL), City of Hollywood (FL), and City of Norwalk (CT), that manage or own a total of over 8 million parking spaces.

CarCharging is committed to creating a robust, feature-rich network for EV charging and is technology agnostic. CarCharging's EV charging network includes equipment manufactured by Aerovironment, ChargePoint, Efacec, General Electric, Nissan, and SemaConnect. The Level II charging stations are compatible with EVs sold in the United States including the Tesla Model S, Nissan LEAF, Chevy Volt, Mitsubishi i-Miev, Toyota Prius Plug-In, Honda Fit EV, and Toyota Rav4 EV, as well as many others scheduled for release in the next few years.

For more information about CarCharging, please visit www.CarCharging.com.

Forward-Looking Safe Harbor Statement:
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined within Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. By their nature, forward-looking statements and forecasts involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the near future. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Car Charging Group, Inc., and members of its management as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed conditions.

SOURCE Car Charging Group, Inc.
Released October 10, 2013