9/17/13: ECOtality files for bankrupcy and gets Nissan loan

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Randy

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This morning, ECOtality filed for bankruptcy protection and also announced a $1.25M loan from Nissan spread over the next few weeks...

http://www.fool.com/quote/nasdaq/ecotality-inc/ecty/sec-filings" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
I don't think 1.25 million is going to make much difference in the overall scheme of things...

Randy said:
This morning, ECOtality filed for bankruptcy protection and also announced a $1.25M loan from Nissan spread over the next few weeks...
 
mwalsh said:
Positioning for an equity stake perhaps?
Nissan may have no choice but to purchase, or more likely to broker a purchase of Ecotality. Their batteries are degrading faster than they expected - much worse than 70% remaining in 10 years. With Blink stations operating that only means that Leaf is slightly less convenient and more expensive to operate than it would be with better batteries. But if Blink stations were to close then a lot of Leafs would no longer be adequate, and dumped onto a resale market with no buyers the value would collapse. Then they wouldn't be able to sell new Leafs even if they did develop a longer lasting battery or add thermal management - the name would be ruined.

So I'll bet that Nissan will broker a deal sending Ecotality to Chargepoint or to evGo.
 
There are certainly many creative possibilities that could emerge. What if Nissan bought the network and pulled a Tesla move to make charging free for Nissan LEAFs or other Nissan future EVs?

What a coup that would be to have the basis of a nationwide charging network for your brand....
 
Randy said:
There are certainly many creative possibilities that could emerge. What if Nissan bought the network and pulled a Tesla move to make charging free for Nissan LEAFs or other Nissan future EVs?

What a coup that would be to have the basis of a nationwide charging network for your brand....
That would be a very interesting idea. Or, maybe they could offer charging for Nissan EVs for real cheap?

Hopefully, Nissan would replace all the defective Rema handles and keep their network operating reliably...
 
L2 is not really going to help balance that equation much. It is simply too slow, even with a 6kw charger... And at a buck an hour, too expensive. L3 is far more practical, IMHO.

walterbays said:
Nissan may have no choice but to purchase, or more likely to broker a purchase of Ecotality. Their batteries are degrading faster than they expected - much worse than 70% remaining in 10 years. With Blink stations operating that only means that Leaf is slightly less convenient and more expensive to operate than it would be with better batteries.
 
$1.25M won't last long - it may get them a couple months - employee compensation on their last quarterly report is about $1.2M / quarter (~$5M/year). Of course, considering that their damn executives suck up about a third of that (at least it did in 2011 - first data I was able to pull up - anyone able to pull up more recent data?) getting rid of those guys first would make a huge improvement in their bottom line.
 
Nissan didn't "loan" the money without expecting a VERY favorable outcome for themselves in bankruptcy.

The smart money is a Tesla like plan. They could replace all the DC chargers with the Sumitomo units, and even smarter would be to make the Sumitomos have communication between each other so that they can have a 62.5kW max combined power draw (what the Blink units have), and place two Sumitomo units at every Blink site that is rational. Abandon the silly sites that are locked behind fences, are not open 24 hours, etc.

The sky is the limit, but I fear a less than ambitious outcome.
 
TomT said:
L2 is not really going to help balance that equation much. It is simply too slow. And at a buck and hour, too expensive.

For those with the 3.3kW charger, yes. But once you go to 6kW+ with a good location with stuff (food/shopping/movies etc) to do for an hour or more, they actually do make sense. Get 10kW onboard and things start to get really interesting. :)
 
TomT said:
L2 is not really going to help balance that equation much. It is simply too slow. And at a buck and hour, too expensive.
It's worked out ok for us on occasion. Wouldn't do it all the time. With our 6kw charger, we've gone to the limit of our ability to get back. Stop at the one blink station in the state, go have lunch, gain almost 30 mile range for the return trip. For $1, it's tolerable.
 
TomT said:
L2 is not really going to help balance that equation much. It is simply too slow. And at a buck and hour, too expensive.

With 6.6kw charger option in Leaf, Blink L2 provide about 25% to 30% charging rate per hour. I typically spend $3 ($1/hr) to get Leaf fully charge when starting from 30% to 40% level.
I think it is quite practical when you are running errand in town riding on Leaf.
 
The way we use the car, it still takes too long to be practical for our needs, even at 6.6Kw, particularly with the level of degradation we now have...

sc540i said:
TomT said:
L2 is not really going to help balance that equation much. It is simply too slow, even with a 6kw charger... And at a buck an hour, too expensive. L3 is far more practical, IMHO.
With 6.6kw charger option in Leaf, Blink L2 provide about 25% to 30% charging rate per hour. I typically spend $3 ($1/hr) to get Leaf fully charge when starting from 30% to 40% level.
I think it is quite practical when you are running errand in town riding on Leaf.
 
If you ask me, L2 charging is only good at your origin and your destination and one time in between to make the distance between the two. I took a 300 mile trip between Seattle and Spokane with 100miles supported by L3 charging and the rest L2. It took almost 12 hours! I'll never do that again.
 
+1

johnrhansen said:
If you ask me, L2 charging is only good at your origin and your destination and one time in between to make the distance between the two. I took a 300 mile trip between Seattle and Spokane with 100miles supported by L3 charging and the rest L2. It took almost 12 hours! I'll never do that again.
 
johnrhansen said:
If you ask me, L2 charging is only good at your origin and your destination and one time in between to make the distance between the two. I took a 300 mile trip between Seattle and Spokane with 100miles supported by L3 charging and the rest L2. It took almost 12 hours! I'll never do that again.

And in a Rav4 or Tesla, that would be fairly easy with nothing but L2. I actually did it this summer in the Rav4 with one enroute charge in Ellensburg.
 
TonyWilliams said:
johnrhansen said:
If you ask me, L2 charging is only good at your origin and your destination and one time in between to make the distance between the two. I took a 300 mile trip between Seattle and Spokane with 100miles supported by L3 charging and the rest L2. It took almost 12 hours! I'll never do that again.

And in a Rav4 or Tesla, that would be fairly easy with nothing but L2. I actually did it this summer in the Rav4 with one enroute charge in Ellensburg.


That conforms to my formula: just one stop in between! I'm working on a range extender so I can do that in my leaf too.
 
TonyWilliams said:
.....The smart money is a Tesla like plan.....

The beauty of the Tesla plan is that the customer purchases most of the infrastructure in the form of a large battery.
This also somewhat isolates the Tesla charging stations from the city centers. Noone will run out 50 miles, get super charged, then 50 miles back to the city and run errands.
I just can't see how 70 mile LEAF & free QC model is going to pan out.
 
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