I have a new piece up about Blink, which has to be about the sorriest excuse for a "charging network" out there at the moment. They just dug themselves in even deeper last month. http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/ev/blink.html It's very ranty, pulls no punches at all, and includes a fun graphic I'm kind of proud about. _H*
Look no further as the company name lives up to its true meaning "on the blink" : in or into a disabled or useless condition The facts cannot be blinked away
That's quite a write-up! I had just a single, unsuccessful 45-minute experience at the Blink charging stations at Witbeck's Family Foods in Claire, Michigan. Unlike @hobbit, however, I couldn't talk to their support staff because when I called, the robot answering the phone said I needed a "conference code" before I could speak with anyone. Fortunately, tiny Clare has an alternative to Blink. The Shell station less than a mile up S. Clare Avenue from Whitbeck's Family Foods has 2 ChargePoint 62kW charging stations. Now I'm hoping my Blink RFID card will become a rare collectible that I can sell after Blink goes away to compensate me for my frustrating experience last summer.
Several years ago, Blink made a major effort to install L2 chargers across Tennessee. But those that require a fee, don't work for my RFID card nor the iPhone App. But one example that does not insist on payment, seems to be stuck on 'enabled' without payment. We have another Blink EVSE in Huntsville that gave free charging in the past. Speculation, this may be a fail safe for "... they still had 2G cell-data modems ..." Bob Wilson
I have never had the displeasure of using one of their chargers as we really don't have any in our area. There are other CPO that I might rant about instead, but we all have our own stories, I guess.
Several Blink L2s were installed in my county way back in 2012. They never worked and within a year they were all torn out and replaced with ChargePoints. The ChargePoints aren’t the model of reliability either but usually you can find one that works. Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
Blink's overwrought claims and poor business practice goes back a ways, notably touching a VERY sketchy history around their founder / CEO: . https://www.google.com/search?q=%2B%22michael%20farkas%22+%2Bblink+%2Bfraud . https://ir.blinkcharging.com/company-information/management-team If their management ever deigns to return my repeated requests for callback, I'm simply going to tell them to refund anything I committed financially, kill my account, and go pound sand until they've figured out how to run a real infrastructure. I also filed an FTC report against these clowns, much good that'll probably do. _H*
There's a bit more to the story now, including the most satisfaction I've ever received from Blink: . http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/ev/buhbye_blink.mp4 In a word, well done! _H*
