A few days ago I asked whether Blink’s recent pricing change for charging services was gouging consumers. That pricing change had some welcome changes, such as switching from charging by the hour to charging by the minute. But the effect has been a drastic increase in the cost of a…
Over the weekend California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a list of bills focusing on climate change issues, some of which would expand support for electric cars. I’ve seen some in the EV community applaud these moves, but I see a mixed bag of some things which might be useful and…
The change two weeks ago by Blink Networks to switch from per-hour pricing to per-kilowatt-hour pricing has caused an eruption of anger among Blink members. The change was supposed to solve another big problem – Blink’s habit of rounding up session fees to the next hour even when the elapsed…
Access to charging stations is a fundamental need for electric vehicle drivers. But does that mean an electric car driver can park in a handicapped spot just to access a charging station? If the charging station is blocked, does that transfer rights to the electric car driver to violate the…
Later this year Kia is due to launch sales of the Kia Soul EV in California. It’s thought production will be small at first, and with distribution only in California we might think this car is a Compliance Car – however, it’s also thought Kia will ramp up production and…
The Blink Network has gone to kilowatt-hour pricing, in states where it’s allowed. The electric car charging network, now owned by the CarCharging Group, says this move is being done to become more competitive, by adapting to changes in the market. Another change that will be greatly appreciated is a…
I’m beginning to think the real future of electric vehicle charging has to switch to a filling station model. Today most public electric vehicle charging uses a parking lot model, because the typical charging rate (Level 2 AC at 6 kilowatts) gives 20-25 miles of range per hour of charging.…
Renters and other multi-unit-dwelling occupants have a huge barrier to electric vehicle ownership – the access to electricity needed to charge their car at home. I call this “level 0 charging” to differentiate from level 1 (120 volt AC) and level 2 (240 volt AC through a charging station). We…
Do you know the pain of living on “level 0 charging”? That obtuse question is preventing those who rent from buying plug-in electrified vehicles. Level 1 (AC) charging is a 120 volts connection that’s barely suitable for EV charging, while Level 2 (AC) charging is the typical 240 volt 30…
Electric car drivers must have access to electric vehicle charging spots. That means we, the community of electric vehicle drivers, have developed an etiquette for sharing charging station access. Not everyone knows or follows the etiquette, making for friction and anger. Usually it’s a gasoline car blocking access to a…
An electric car with just a 50 mile range can barely be used around town, right? That’s what conventional wisdom says: that a short range electric car is useless because the range is too limiting. What if the real limitation is charging speed, and you couple the short range car…
Want to own an electric vehicle, but feel constrained by the short distance? While it’s true that most people drive 40 miles or less per day, we all take those longer trips from time to time. While Tesla Motors understands this, and builds long distance travel into their electric cars,…
We want more electric cars on the road, and one thing sure to help is workplace charging. By charging at the office the effective daily electric driving range is doubled – because you start from home fully charged, and get fully charged at the office. Since it’s so critical that…
Electric car owners need access to electricity – all of us do. Unfortunately there often aren’t enough charging stations to go around, leaving us to either practice good sharing habits, or to replay childhood games equivalent to “hogging the ball.” In other words, some people don’t have any qualm hogging…
The CarCharging Group may be the first company to validate Tesla’s new strategy on patents. CCG has announced its intention to integrate the Tesla Supercharger technology into Blink fast charging stations. CarCharging Group started its life building charging stations on the ChargePoint network, but last year it bought the Blink…
