Comments | ka9q: More Ecotality braindamage and incompetence

ka9q

More Ecotality braindamage and incompetence

Jul 13, 2012 01:19

The web server on my Blink EVSE has been broken for the past several months. (EVSE = Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment, a fancy term for the now-standard-but-special extension cord used to charge an electric car.) Whenever I tried to connect to it, I got a "500 Server Error" message.

(Note added in response to a comment: no, this is not a joke. ( Read more... )

Comments 4

anonymous July 15 2012, 20:06:52 UTC

Hi Phil,

I notified field services and our network operations team about your issues. As you know, this is the largest EV infrastructure rollout in history. Most of our R&D has had to be done in the field since the cars were already in production. As with any new technology, there are bugs to work out and patches that needed to be created. We appreciate your patience and look forward to resolving the issue for you.

ka9q July 16 2012, 00:03:41 UTC

Thank you for responding to my blog entry. Please note that I have updated it since your comment.

As I keep trying to explain, an EVSE is nothing more than an extension cord that happens to deliver power to an electric vehicle. As you can imagine, we depend on that power being available or we won't be able to drive our cars very far. The fact that this is the "biggest EV infrastructure rollout in history" (which isn't saying much) is precisely the point ( ... )

anonymous November 26 2012, 23:24:14 UTC

Hi Phil,

I just discovered your website and blog today. I'm a Satcom engineer myself, so I appreciate the content

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I actually have tried to enter a password using a malfunctioning keyboard! Not fun :(

Also, with regards to your comment about the Mcdonald's monopoly pieces in a different post, usually a list of the rare ones is posted online at some point early on in the game by apparently some person who eats there way too often. Not that it matters, though.

Have a good one.

KD8MUI

ka9q November 28 2012, 01:00:06 UTC

You're welcome. Thanks for stopping by.

I have since encountered yet another bug in the EVSE software!

About the only feature of any use is the ability to delay charging until an off-peak period. The other day I decided I wanted to charge my car sooner, so I tried to use the touch screen to start charging immediately, this time only. Seems simple enough, right? Several times in a row I got a bright red screen telling me that the "self test" had failed, and to touch the screen to continue.

I never did get my car to charge until I disabled the charging delay completely. What a mess.