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ECOtality Blink Just Started Charging Money to Charge your Car in Texas

Discussion in 'Gen 1 Prius Plug-in 2012-2015' started by jbrad4, Sep 6, 2012.

  1. jbrad4

    jbrad4 Active Member

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    When I charged my car today, I found out that ECOtality Blink just started charging $1/hour to charge your car in Texas yesterday. I have emailed them stating that their one dollar charge for my 2 kWh of electricity is above my pain threshold. I only pay 8.8 cents / kWh at home and am unwilling to pay one dollar for 17.6 cents worth of electricity. The City of Garland who supplies the electricity for most of the chargers I use only pays 6 cents for that 2 kWh of electricity. I guess from here on out I will just charge only at home where it costs me a little over a quarter for the 3.1 kWh it takes to charge my depleted battery.

    It's been a nice run while the free electricity has lasted from when I got my car in April until yesterday. Today, I went over 103 mpg overall, with 53% of my 4750 miles being electric only. I guess this is now going to change.

    My Car EV/HV Stats
    My actual MPG figures
     
    #1 jbrad4, Sep 6, 2012
  2. priuskitty

    priuskitty PIP FAN

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    impressive:D
     
    #2 priuskitty, Sep 6, 2012
  3. priuskitty

    priuskitty PIP FAN

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    the charts, not texas, lol
     
    #3 priuskitty, Sep 6, 2012
    PriusCamper likes this.
  4. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Classic Texas reality... They get all bent out of shape about eco-laws that protect people/save lives if they cost corporations too much money, or they get all upset when they have to pay taxes, but if you want to rip people off by making them pay 10 times the cost of electricity or forcing them to pay a toll to drive on public roads that were given away for private profit it's all ok... No wonder ENRON had it's headquarters in Texas... I wish we could find a way to give Texas back to Mexico....
     
    #4 PriusCamper, Sep 6, 2012
  5. Munpot42

    Munpot42 Senior Member

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    You know what they say: "The only good thing to come out of Texas is Interstate 10.
     
    #5 Munpot42, Sep 6, 2012
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  6. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Good to notify them.

    I suspect that they'll only be used by folks who really WANT to use them or need to (pure BEV low on battery). The rate might make a little more sense w/cars w/6.6+ kW chargers (e.g. FFE, Coda, Rav4 EV, and '13 Leaf).
     
    #6 cwerdna, Sep 6, 2012
  7. jbrad4

    jbrad4 Active Member

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    I just did some math to figure out the costs/mile:

    In my Prius Plug-In:

    1. Cost per mile using electricity charged at home: 1.9 cents/mile

    2. Cost per mile to run on gasoline: $3.629/gal / 50 miles/gal = 7.3 cents/mile

    3. Cost per mile to use ECOtality charge at $1/hour: 11 cents/mile.

    So it's a no-brainer to not use ECOtality Blink charging stations based on cost alone.
     
    #7 jbrad4, Sep 7, 2012
  8. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    I am SOOO very glad that most Blink & Chargepoint stations charge now. WAY too often, it seems to be the case that the plugin hybrids will use a charge spot just to park ... like their own private stall. And even tho they're full in a couple hours or so, in our area, they'll simply stay parked there, ALL DAY LONG. It's the new level of inconsideratness. But now - with anywhere from $1 to $3 per hour, it'll finally clear up the spots (maybe), for the poor slobs in EV's who may very well be on their very last couple kWh's. Thumbs up for Blinks decision.
     
    #8 hill, Sep 7, 2012
  9. John H

    John H Senior Member

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    But you bought your PiP to help protect the environment and not send money to people in the middle east that want to kill your children right ?
     
    #9 John H, Sep 7, 2012
  10. Keith Anderson

    Keith Anderson New Member

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    Or I-35
     
    #10 Keith Anderson, Sep 7, 2012
  11. Keith Anderson

    Keith Anderson New Member

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    #11 Keith Anderson, Sep 7, 2012
  12. ryogajyc

    ryogajyc Active Member

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    At $1/hour it's close enough to the cost of gas, that I would probably use it. I just bought gas that was more expensive per gallon, so my gas cost/mile is a bit higher too. Also, the last 10 minutes of charging is at a slower rate, so if you skip those 10 minutes, I think you get something close to $0.10/mile.
     
    #12 ryogajyc, Sep 7, 2012
  13. jbrad4

    jbrad4 Active Member

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    Remember, if you charge at a Blink charger, anything less than an hour will cost you $1.00. So, If I charge there and only have 1/2 hour, my cost jumps to 22 cents/mile. The same is true if you charge for 1 hour plus 1 second, the cost jumps to $2.00, which would cost me 22 cents/mile. [added] Of course, if I charge at home, my cost to drive is only 1.9 cents/mile. My Plug-In now has over 5,000 miles at over 106 MPG. My Chart
     
    #13 jbrad4, Sep 22, 2012
  14. John H

    John H Senior Member

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    Do the Blink stations let you specify that you ONLY want 1hr of charge so that you don't get charged another $1 for a partial hour.
     
    #14 John H, Sep 22, 2012
  15. jbrad4

    jbrad4 Active Member

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    No. As soon as you plug in, you have a $1.00 charge and the Blink clock starts. As soon as you go over one hour it jumps to $2.00. You cannot specify the amount of time you want. Plus the Blink cards cost $30.00 each per year starting 1 Jan 2013. I have two cards, and I'm going call them in Dec to tell them to void my cards. (They don't want the cards back.)
     
    #15 jbrad4, Sep 22, 2012
  16. John H

    John H Senior Member

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    So they are charging you for the parking space, not for the electricity.
     
    #16 John H, Sep 22, 2012
  17. jbrad4

    jbrad4 Active Member

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    That about sums it up. They should be charging for the electric power not the time. My Prius PHV charges at 2 kWh per hour. I don't know what the charge rate is for a Volt or Leaf on a Level-2 charger is, but I bet they're different.

    HTCEVOV4G ? 2
     
    #17 jbrad4, Sep 23, 2012
  18. timdsd

    timdsd Junior Member

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    I think only electric utilities are allowed to charge by the kilowatt-hour.
     
    #18 timdsd, Sep 25, 2012
  19. CharlesH

    CharlesH CA HOV Decal #5 on former PiP

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    Not sure if it is a state or federal thing, but a poster stated a few months ago that the silly rule declaring anyone who sold electricity by the KWH to be a utility has been revised to exempt EV charging stations.
     
    #19 CharlesH, Sep 25, 2012
  20. Electric Charge

    Electric Charge Active Member

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    ChargePoint charges $2.40/hour in my area. Not happy about that at all, and will never use it. There are other ways of addressing the 'private stall' issue, without punishing everyone.
     
    #20 Electric Charge, Sep 26, 2012
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