Blink Charging - EB Go‪!‬ 4+

WARNING - hidden pricing and unannounced price hike

Blink bought the lamppost chargers off previous operator - now have a monopoly in some towns - sure enough within a few months they just hiked prices of lamppost chargers by a massive 56% overnight despite wholesale prices now falling (no doubt similar hikes across other charge points as well). Now approaching the cost of fast chargers despite ~2kW speed! Worse than this, the app doesn’t tell you the price before you charge - you have to dig into the detail of the charge point to find that out, which there’s no need to do when initiating a charge hence lots of customers will be getting billed way beyond what they are expecting. There was no email or in-app alert from Blink. Compare this to the transparent forecourt pricing for petrol and it’s an absolute scam. As well as an awful way to treat customers.

Update: Blink AC charge prices now ranked THE MOST EXPENSIVE on a list of 14 companies providing this service (July 2023)

Developer Response ,

Good afternoon, Thank you for contacting Blink Charging.

World events and ongoing volatility and uncertainty regarding energy prices have pushed the global cost of energy to record levels. Even as energy levels appear to stabilise, there is still much uncertainty regarding the future of energy prices and the consistency of supply. As a result, we have taken the difficult decision to increase our prices. As always, we continue to work to keep these prices competitive. We endeavour to send out communications of any price increases prior to the event which can be found on our social media platforms of choice or alternatively via our Blink Charging App.

Also, here is a link to Brighton's webpage for more info: https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/news/2023/price-change-electric-vehicle-charging

If you have any further questions or feedback, or need help using our network please call us on 0330 111 0076, or email support@blinkcharging.co.uk.

Blink Support

Poor app & service

Really poor app. Plus it’s a faff to get connected, the costs are hidden until you’ve arrive and plugged in (states 49p kWh online etc but was at least 59p kWh or more when I connected) but I can’t see the prices now I’m charging! When charging you can’t see what your spend actually is, you just get shown the expected end price for the time you put in. Remotely checking is another zero confidence experience - please display the real-time state of charge of the vehicle so we can see the unit is still working !! Not sure if disconnecting early from the time slot will I’ll get billed with the full expected charge cost or will I be billed for just what I’ve used? Developers please take a look at Instavolt, Ionity etc and improve. The current app will lose you many repeat customers!

Total inconvenience and waste of time

If I could give this EV charging app less than 1 star I would. The app doesn’t even recognise the location of the charger so you have to manually locate. When it does get found and you follow the process of how to charge. Then whilst in app you pre- approve payment and wait for the app to initiate the charger. At this point nothing happens. Tried multiple times and different configurations to no avail. After speaking to the help I was advised to unplug the cable and try again. Guess what it doesn’t work. The app and infrastructure needs some real work to make it easier for users. It’s also a lot of lost revenue for the business. Take note