Chargepoint Issues

Their site was down for a few hours yesterday- perhaps it's related?

 

I use our chargepoint card on private/work property & they've been solid - every day - ever since installation, over a year ago. Maybe the glitch is just on the public system? Doesn't hurt to call & ask. You think chargepoint has issues .... they got nothing over the Blink network. Blink ..... as in 'on-the-blink'. At least with chargepoint they're usually running .... blink - not so much.
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Not to mention Blink's usurious pricing.

 

My experience using the app is that the charging station sends updates to the server that the app uses every five minutes. There is a cell phone in the charging station.

 

I believe ChargePoint has always delayed "no longer charging" notifications from the ChargePoint station to the phone app by 15 minutes in order to be sure that the car has really finished pulling power. I've actually met with some of their software developers about a related topic and this issue came up.

Some cars will stop charging the battery but will then keep pulling a reduced amount of power for a few minutes to assist in battery thermal management (cooling) etc. By waiting 10-15 minutes after the power levels drop they can assure compatibility with all of the various plugin vehicles models that use their stations.

 

Chargepoint doesn't use satellites. It uses cell service. At least the one's around here do it that way. The models that we have even have a menu on their display to report cell status.

 

It could be that the cell phone network used by the ChargePoint station is weak and sometimes unreachable. When the cell phone network is unreachable the ChargePoint station will go ahead authorize a limited number of charging sessions until the network is reachable again and then it will send whatever billing information it has saved up. At some point it will stop allowing new charging sessions if the phone network remains inaccessible.

 

Also, good to know that, if there are multiple charging stations only one has the cell connection. The others communicate in the local area via Wifi or Bluetooth with the master station which has the cell connection.

Mike

 

Sorry to get slightly off topic, but for the chargers that cost per kWh instead of per time, once the battery is full does the costing end even if still plugged in? Unlike a timed charger where it still costs money even after the battery is full?

 

Yes, when the car is no longer drawing power you won't be charged based on kwh rates.

It is possible for ChargePoint station owners to configure a pricing policy which includes both a per-kwh price component and an hourly rate component. In that case, the hourly aspect can optionally be configured to continue even after the car has stopped charging.

Also, it is possible to configure a policy that switches to a different hourly rate after a fixed period of time after the charging session began. Some station owners do this to penalize cars that remain parked and plugged in past a certain period of time.

The details of the complete pricing policy are displayed on the station screen so customers can see them before choosing to plug in. The details are also available on the charging station maps published online.