Blink Membership Rollout Starts Today in Maricopa County

davewill said:

ENIAC said:

Randy, sounds like you're a fanboy. (As long as we're making judgement calls) ...

Click to expand...

Actually he's a moderator and an SDG&E employee that's been doing a great job of supporting our community on his own time...plus he's absolutely right. Your complaints about having to pay are pretty selfish. The facts are that if public charging can't even pay it's own maintenance costs, we might as well rip them out now.

Click to expand...

+1. Before you start calling people fanbois, you might consider what it actually costs to provide said infrastructure.

$2/hour is very unlikely to be sufficient to even break-even at this time unless you have a high usage station.

Comparing the incremental cost of charging at home (the price of electricity) to the cost of charging in public where a business is trying to break even on said infrastructure (and the business pays basically the same electricity rates if not more) pretty much means that charging in public will always cost significantly more.

People don't hesitate to pay $2 for a soft-drink at a restaurant when they can drink the same thing for 25c at home.

It's the same thing for public charging.

Personally, I will not hesitate to pay $2/hour if I need a charge, and I certainly won't drive the Prius instead which defeats the purpose of buying a LEAF in the first place. Do I wish that the rate varied depending on actual consumption? Sure - but that's still not going to stop me from charging and paying for it.

At $1/hr, I'm pretty sure they will still be eeking out some pretty thin margins for the near-future. The government support was meant to set up long-term structures, and that's what it's doing. Peek at the Blink map for Phoenix--right now there are 9 cars plugged into chargers here. Unless everyone at Blink headquarters is making $1/day, then I guess they are not making a killing...yet. I hope for their success and I don't mind paying $1/hour if I happen to be out and need a charge. I'm rarely plugged in longer than 2 hours when I'm out, and that's only if dinner is running long at Hula's Tiki. $2-5/week is better than than the old days of filling up the car with gas.

For the record, I am not affiliated with Blink, but all my dealings with them have been positive.

I'm signed up for the Basic membership. At the risk of sounding cheap, if I decide to upgrade to the Blink Plus membership this year with the waived $30 fee as being promoted, how easy is it to convert back to the Blink Basic membership with no fee next year? Or will I be stuck with the Plus membership?

Also, is the membership based on calendar year? (meaning beginning of all membership year is January 1st)

Volusiano said:

I'm signed up for the Basic membership. At the risk of sounding cheap, if I decide to upgrade to the Blink Plus membership this year with the waived $30 fee as being promoted, how easy is it to convert back to the Blink Basic membership with no fee next year? Or will I be stuck with the Plus membership?

Also, is the membership based on calendar year? (meaning beginning of all membership year is January 1st)

Click to expand...

I did the Blink Plus as the fee is waived and will drop it at the end of December. Might as well get the benefit of the remaining free months. Next year I'll be fine just charging at home for free; I charge 98% at home now anyway.

DesertDenizen said:

Volusiano said:

I'm signed up for the Basic membership. At the risk of sounding cheap, if I decide to upgrade to the Blink Plus membership this year with the waived $30 fee as being promoted, how easy is it to convert back to the Blink Basic membership with no fee next year? Or will I be stuck with the Plus membership?

Also, is the membership based on calendar year? (meaning beginning of all membership year is January 1st)

Click to expand...

I did the Blink Plus as the fee is waived and will drop it at the end of December. Might as well get the benefit of the remaining free months. Next year I'll be fine just charging at home for free; I charge 98% at home now anyway.

Click to expand...

Volusiano,

If you choose to change your Blink Plus membership at a later date, all you'll have to do is re-choose the new membership of your choice when ready. Also, your membership calendar year starts on the day you sign up. For example: If you signed up today - July 10, 2012 - your membership will expire on July 10, 2013. Thanks for the question!

ENIAC said:

The EV Project should have been recompeted a year and a half ago. If it had, maybe there would have been QCs throughout SoCal.

Click to expand...

I think that is a very valid point (though may be the timeline isn't accurate) - but should be in a separate thread. Let us keep this thread to talk about Blink Membership.

DesertDenizen said:

I did the Blink Plus as the fee is waived and will drop it at the end of December. Might as well get the benefit of the remaining free months. Next year I'll be fine just charging at home for free; I charge 98% at home now anyway.

Click to expand...

I charge probably 99%+ at home. But if there were Blink stations, operational, available, and not ICEd, at most shopping centers I visited, and if there were Blink QC stations along most roads I traveled, then I might well be using them a non-trivial amount. If Nissan had sold all the cars they forecast, and if Ecotality had installed all the chargers they forecast, then Ecotality would have collected all the offered DOE money and would have collected a ton of relevant real world data on how chargers were used. If that had happened, I think $30/yr for discounted access to the network would be a very good deal.

As it is, whenever they ask for money for Blink Plus I'll have to evaluate it on the basis of what they have to offer for the money at that moment. I won't pay for promises. But I'd sure pay for access to at least half a dozen QC stations (current count: zero) or for access to a truly widespread network of L2 stations, say at every Starbucks in the county.

Blink said:

Volusiano,

If you choose to change your Blink Plus membership at a later date, all you'll have to do is re-choose the new membership of your choice when ready. Also, your membership calendar year starts on the day you sign up. For example: If you signed up today - July 10, 2012 - your membership will expire on July 10, 2013. Thanks for the question!

Click to expand...

Can you give me some additional clarification? It says "Upgrade now and we'll waive your annual fee of $30 membership dues for 2012".

If I signed up for a Basic Membership recently (let's say July 1st, 2012). I then just upgraded today (July 10, 2012). When will be I charge with a renewal fee of $30? January 1st 2013? Or July 1st 2013? Or July 10th, 2013?

One more question: I logged back on your website and don't see any date record of when I signed up recently for the basic membership. Without this information shown, how are people supposed to remember what date they signed up for their membership?

DarkStar said:

Blink said:

DarkStar said:

How much for L2? (last I heard, $1 per hour)
How much for DC-QC? (no estimates given)

Click to expand...

Here is a link to our Membership page - https://www.blinknetwork.com/membership.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - With a Blink Plus membership, charging is $1 per hour - (and signing up for this membership is currently free), - Blink Basic is $1.50 per hour and Blink Guest is $2 per hour.

Currently, DCFC charging is free.

Click to expand...

Yes, I've checked that page, however it states specifically the following (emphasis mine):

Blink Plus - Charge for as low as $1.00 per hour ($30 annual fee, automatic credit card billing required)
Blink Basic - Charge for as low as $1.50 per hour (no annual fee, automatic credit card billing required)
Blink Guest - Your charge: As low as $2.00 per hour (no annual fee, manual credit card charging per session)

The language means that the $1/1.50/2 per hour fee isn't fixed and that when we show up at a station it could be $2, $3, maybe even $5 per hour. Also, the language doesn't tell us how billing is performed, for example is it calculated per minute, half-hour, or single hour. If I charge for 65 minutes at a station that is $1 per hour, I have no idea if I'm being billed $2 or $1.09, or maybe even $1.50. If Blink wants this to work for the public, the actual fees and periods need to be clearly spelled out.

Click to expand...

Hey Darkstar,

Charging will be billed per hour. Therefore at 65 minutes, you will be billed $2. Also, rates are listed "as low as" because rates may vary depending on local utility rates. Hope this helps!

Blink said:

Hey Darkstar,

Charging will be billed per hour. Therefore at 65 minutes, you will be $2. Also, rates are listed "as low as" because rates may vary depending on local utility rates. Hope this helps!

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info!

I signed up for the Blink Plus membership months ago since it was no charge and no risk. However once the $30 fee goes into effect I plan to demote my membership to Basic. I will also not plan to use any public charging once fees are enforced. I already plan trips so that public charging is not necessary. The reason is because I cannot be guaranteed that any given public charging station will be operating and available when I would need to use it (broken, ICE-ed, or in use). There is still always the chance I might need or want to use public charging in the future, but I think my usage would be minimal unless things change.

What would need to change to make me increase my usage of public charging? Two things:
1. Keep it free for consumers. A business model similar to WiFi needs to be adopted whereby businesses absorb the costs as a marketing expense in order to attract valuable customers.
2. Institute a reliable reservation system whereby we can reserve a station and know for sure we will be able to use it when we get there.

There is actually a third thing that would make me want to use public charging more. Nissan announced that a 6kW charger will become available. Since I would be able to get essentially twice as much energy as I can with my '11 LEAF (about 4 bars/hours vs. 2 bars/hr.) it would make public charging more useful.

kovalb said:

What would need to change to make me increase my usage of public charging?

Click to expand...

You missed another option - plentiful charging stations scattered everywhere so one is never far from one and has plenty of choices.

Unfortunately, this won't happen unless companies putting these in can get some sort of revenue flow. Installing and maintaining public charging stations is not cheap or easy.

I am disappointed that charging will be billed by the hour - IMO it should be billed in no more than $0.50 increments. No one wants to feel ripped off or feel like they have to stay close to a full hour.

Volusiano said:

Blink said:

Volusiano,

If you choose to change your Blink Plus membership at a later date, all you'll have to do is re-choose the new membership of your choice when ready. Also, your membership calendar year starts on the day you sign up. For example: If you signed up today - July 10, 2012 - your membership will expire on July 10, 2013. Thanks for the question!

Click to expand...

Can you give me some additional clarification? It says "Upgrade now and we'll waive your annual fee of $30 membership dues for 2012".

If I signed up for a Basic Membership recently (let's say July 1st, 2012). I then just upgraded today (July 10, 2012). When will be I charge with a renewal fee of $30? January 1st 2013? Or July 1st 2013? Or July 10th, 2013?

One more question: I logged back on your website and don't see any date record of when I signed up recently for the basic membership. Without this information shown, how are people supposed to remember what date they signed up for their membership?

Click to expand...

I'm puzzled why Blink has not answered my follow-up questions??? They don't know the answer???

ENIAC said:

Randy, sounds like you're a fanboy. (As long as we're making judgement calls) I'm not at all upset with the government paying for the initial public EVSE deployments also I whole heartedly support public charging (I use it several times a week), just not from companies who failed to keep up their end of the bargain. The EV Project should have been recompeted a year and a half ago. If it had, maybe there would have been QCs throughout SoCal.

Click to expand...

Just checked back into the thread...

Fanboy, huh?

Ordered LEAF early (as soon as website opened) - check
Received LEAF #10 in the US - check
Drove LEAF home from Fontana Nissan in January 2011 (111 miles on Day 1 with very little public charging - by the way) - check
Love the car and talk it up to anyone who will listen - check
Continuing passionate supporter of EVs and public charging - check
Working full time at SDG&E in the Clean Transportation to help improve the EV and infrastructure experience - check
Current focus is working with commercial customers and EVSPs such as ECOtality, NRG and others to help facilitate charging sites and electrical infrastructure - check
Spending much of my off time also working on EV and charging issues - check
Took 850 mile LEAF roadtrip this Spring with my son, relying totally on public charging - check
Want to see as much public charging infrastructure as possible (knowing this convinces many people to buy cars) - check
Planning on using as much public charging infrastructure as much as possible myself - check
Trying to convince others to help support it too so it's there long-term - check

Fanboy? Shrugs shoulders... If that's the name you want to use, go for it...My cards are on the table...I'd like to think I'm walking the talk...

Despite your posting, I'd still like to try and convince you to use the public charging infrastructure once in awhile to help support it

Randy,

While my motivations and goals are not the same as yours, I applaud you for your commitment and integrity. You are most definately walking the talk!

Volusiano said:

Volusiano said:

Blink said:

Volusiano,

If you choose to change your Blink Plus membership at a later date, all you'll have to do is re-choose the new membership of your choice when ready. Also, your membership calendar year starts on the day you sign up. For example: If you signed up today - July 10, 2012 - your membership will expire on July 10, 2013. Thanks for the question!

Click to expand...

Can you give me some additional clarification? It says "Upgrade now and we'll waive your annual fee of $30 membership dues for 2012".

If I signed up for a Basic Membership recently (let's say July 1st, 2012). I then just upgraded today (July 10, 2012). When will be I charge with a renewal fee of $30? January 1st 2013? Or July 1st 2013? Or July 10th, 2013?

One more question: I logged back on your website and don't see any date record of when I signed up recently for the basic membership. Without this information shown, how are people supposed to remember what date they signed up for their membership?

Click to expand...

I'm puzzled why Blink has not answered my follow-up questions??? They don't know the answer???

Click to expand...

Try asking them at http://blinkshare.blinknetwork.com/blink I know that site is a direct link; not so sure about how often they check MNL.

Randy said:

Just checked back into the thread...

Fanboy, huh?

Click to expand...

Go back and read my original comment in context. My comment meant "Fanboy of ECOtality and their BLINK network" because that is what this thread is about, right? And that was in response to what you wrote.

Randy said:

Sounds like you're upset because the government will be spending too much for the stations (you do know that the $100M hasn't been paid out yet, right?), and there aren't enough of them installed yet. But in the end, you don't like the price to use them anyways, which nullifies your argument. Of course they want to install more units, and they're working on it feverishly. In San Diego, they've installed double your 10% amount with many more on the way...

Click to expand...

Volusiano said:

Volusiano said:

Blink said:

Volusiano,

If you choose to change your Blink Plus membership at a later date, all you'll have to do is re-choose the new membership of your choice when ready. Also, your membership calendar year starts on the day you sign up. For example: If you signed up today - July 10, 2012 - your membership will expire on July 10, 2013. Thanks for the question!

Click to expand...

Can you give me some additional clarification? It says "Upgrade now and we'll waive your annual fee of $30 membership dues for 2012".

If I signed up for a Basic Membership recently (let's say July 1st, 2012). I then just upgraded today (July 10, 2012). When will be I charge with a renewal fee of $30? January 1st 2013? Or July 1st 2013? Or July 10th, 2013?

One more question: I logged back on your website and don't see any date record of when I signed up recently for the basic membership. Without this information shown, how are people supposed to remember what date they signed up for their membership?

Click to expand...

I'm puzzled why Blink has not answered my follow-up questions??? They don't know the answer???

Click to expand...

My apologies - I thought this post had gone through successfully and it did not. :/
If you choose to upgrade your membership, your anniversary date for the month/year will currently stay as your original sign up date. However, we are working on getting this changed soon. Also, we are hoping to have the membership sign up date information available within a future release. Thanks again for the questions!

For me, stuck here in the midwest, irrespective of who is responsible for the network - here it's ChargePoint (2) and Charjit (3); I have my 220v charger at home and would never use L2 when out. L3, yes; but around here, it's almost impossible in suburbia (of Chicago) to find a WORKING Charjit L3.

The 3 near me have all been installed for 6 MONTHS and still do not work, yet they want to charge $7 per "refill".

Sorry if that's off topic as it's not Blink.

Hey All,

We have posted a new thread informing all Arizona Blink users that membership software has gone state-wide: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=9460" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;