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Blink New High Charging Rates $$$

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  1. Just got a e-mail from Blink about their new 'competitive' (IMHO stealing) rates of 39 to 79 cents per kWh for Level 2 charging, 49 to 69 cents per kWh for DC charging or where per kWh charging is not allowed or impractical - 4-6 cents per minute for Level 2 or $6.99-$9.99 session for DC charging. This makes charging very expensive. Compare to national electric rate of 10-12 cents per kWh and Orlando Utilities sponsored ChargePoints of 13 cents per kWh.
  2. These rates make our EV cost the same in 'fuel' charges as a car getting 15-20 miles a gallon. A total rip off that will affect the rate of adoption of EV vehicles.
 
  1. Just got a e-mail from Blink about their new 'competitive' (IMHO stealing) rates of 39 to 79 cents per kWh for Level 2 charging, 49 to 69 cents per kWh for DC charging or where per kWh charging is not allowed or impractical - 4-6 cents per minute for Level 2 or $6.99-$9.99 session for DC charging. This makes charging very expensive. Compare to national electric rate of 10-12 cents per kWh and Orlando Utilities sponsored ChargePoints of 13 cents per kWh.
  2. These rates make our EV cost the same in 'fuel' charges as a car getting 15-20 miles a gallon. A total rip off that will affect the rate of adoption of EV vehicles.

What are their installation and operating costs?
 
While those rates are definitely on the high side, why do you pay $2.99 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks on tollway service area, whereas it only costs you perhaps 40c worth of ingredients to make it yourself at home if you buy bulk from Costco ?
 
Blink isn't a charity and has to pay for Rent, install, maint and manufacturing. It would cost approx. $40-80 to fill up at these rates, that's not outrageous for 250 miles and is comparable if not less than current Gas prices. We have a choice and Blink are one of those choices.
 
I've never really been sure how most of those chargers make any sense. A charger at Walgreens? How long is someone really going to be at Walgreens?

I have a Blink card and used it a couple times while visiting Ashland, OR, which works well as it's in Ashland's public parking and the town is a destination location. With Tesla's Superchargers on I5 now though, there's no need to use it.
 
And in other news, most Tesla owners will continue to charge in their garages... :)

The smaller battery EVs, though, can get some use out of Blink and other Level 2 stations...

Like the coffee example above, charging in public periodically won't raise your average cost of energy all that much. Similarly, the average cost for drinking coffee mainly at home or at the office is not affected much by an occasional Starbucks purchase. If you go to a professional sporting venue, do you not have a beer, or a hot dog, or a soda? It costs more than if you fired up the grill at home or grabbed a beverage from the refrigerator...Same thing.

You pay for it when you need it or are away from home, and charge at home the rest of the time...
 
I don't have home charging so this change makes it a little harder to find charging that doesn't feel like a ripoff. Paying about the same per mile as gas just makes me feel like I'm getting fleeced. I used to pay $1/hr at the Blink Stations a mile from my apartment, and noticed last week the price had changed to $0.49/kWh. Quite a massive increase all of a sudden. Will have to rely more on work charging now.
 
There are a few EV owners who rely on public chargers. People living in condos or apartments often fall into this group. For those this will be quite a blow.

For the rest of us this is similar to the AVironment (or whatever they are called) announcement: "hmm, interesting, that will suck if I have to use them".

In >20k miles I have charged at one of these because I had to a total of three times. And the one spot that covers two of these three times (Detroit, OR) now has a supercharger.

Things are different for my wife who drives a Leaf until we get the Model X...
 
Blink continues to be irrelevant. I would have said more irrelevant but that's like being more pregnant.

I think this is targeted at the "sippers". People that only charge for less than an hour. Based on car charging's 2nd quarter results, it looks like the average session is around 3KWh so the majority of their customers are doing just that. The other takeaway from their Q2 report is that in June, they delivered 422KWh of charge. Based on their new rates, I'd guess monthly charging revenue of <$300K. That's just pathetic. No business to see here, move along.
 
IMHO EV owners should expect to pay for charging, and should realize that with the current penetration of EVs, the capital and maintenance costs of charging stations in most cases will far exceed the cost of the power. It's not the same business case as a gas station which has scores if not hundreds of customers per day spending $20 - $80 each time. Most EV chargers are likely only used a few times per week if not per month and the total power cost is maybe $2 to $5 for a typical charge. There has to be some kind of financial incentive for people to spend $5K - $10K to put these stations in place, otherwise we're going to continue with the current dearth of destination charging.
 
The other takeaway from their Q2 report is that in June, they delivered 422KWh of charge. Based on their new rates, I'd guess monthly charging revenue of <$300K. That's just pathetic. No business to see here, move along.

422kWh of charge in month? That can't be correct can it? That would mean my charging alone that month (I drove about 2x more than I usually do that month), at 35hrs x (200v x 24amps) = 168kWh was nearly 40% of their business that month. Think I paid 37 dollars for that. EDIT: $37/168kWh = ~$0.22/kWh
 
This is simple supply and demand.

Blink is a for-profit business. Blink is the supplier and has set its price. You are the consumer creating demand based on that price. If you don't like the price or service, then don't use Blink. If you need to use a Blink EVSE and are willing to pay their price, then use them.

Is there something else that I am missing?