JOCO Library charging stations

[Jim Donovan]

Hey all

After the meeting today I stopped by the library check-out counter and inquired about the missing charging station (it has been removed). I was informed that management of the charging stations has been taken over by the county facilities department and that mid to late next week this one should be updated to a Blink Charging.

https://blinkcharging.com

I asked and was informed that it seems likely that this would be happening at all library charging locations and that they had just received an email with this update (for this library).

Jim

[Cameron Seals Schwanke]

Thanks for checking it out, I've been wondering what the plan was with those. From chatting with JoCo maintenance people it sounded like ChargePoint wasn't interested in helping them repair anything, they just wanted to sell a whole new head for something like $5,000.

Did you get the impression they were still going to be free chargers?

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--Cameron Seals Schwanke

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[Jim Donovan]

Didn’t ask - seemed like we were invading their space and time with the two questions I was able to get answers to today.

I do have an email in to JOCO Facilities Maintenance to get their point of contact and info on the disposition of the old equipment.  Will keep the group posted.

Jim

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[Billy Croan]

Interesting! You know I was wondering the same thing.... what was going on at Central because they've had that damn laminated sign taped over for a while.  

I question the intelligence of spending our tax money to change brands to another proprietary one! Or if they're going to change, change to a clipper creek! 

Thank you for asking them, and sharing their response with us!

As a Merriam resident and hopefully our next Mayor... I can tell you Merriam is probably not going to go along with a switch to blynk. Our city owns the EVSEs, NOT the library in Merriam.  And I will likely oppose blynk if they bring it up.

BTW How many JoCo Mayors own plugin hybrids eh?

Switching to another proprietary network brand just because some part broke is terribly wasteful!  But sounds exactly like big government.  And if I recall right there isn't an actual problem with that station.  Just the retention clip broke.  It worked fine for me several times after the "out of order" sign went up.

OpenEVSE sells kits and parts that could convert any broken chargepoint into a working station again for less than a couple hundred bucks!  I would do the install for free if the library bought the parts!

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[Cameron Seals Schwanke]

New charger stand at Central looks to be mostly installed as of this afternoon, no power to it yet. Looks like a Blink Series 8. I hope the little display on this one is easier to read in the sunlight than the old Chargepoint was.

Speculating here, but I wouldn't be surprised if the county specifically wanted to retain the option to make it paid charging in the future. Similar to how Overland Park is working on adding some city-owned chargers that will start out free, but the council required that they start charging a nominal rate (15c/kWh, as I recall) once they reach a certain level of usage. Not sure if JoCo ever settled on that but I know at least one County Commissioner is vehemently opposed to anything they consider subsidizing EVs.

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--Cameron Seals Schwanke

[David Virtue]

Thanks for the report Cameron. Missed your presence last Sunday. 

David W. Virtue 

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 18, 2025, at 9:45 PM, Cameron Seals Schwanke <flyings...@gmail.com> wrote:



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[Cameron SS]

It's up! Got 8kW to my Bolt this morning, don't know if that's shared between the two plugs or available from each. I do like that unlike the Chargepoint ones, this setup doesn't make you bother with a goofy app or a card to unlock it for free charging - just pull out a handle and plug in.

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--Cameron Seals Schwanke

[Jim Donovan]

My understanding is that it is a google group.  I notice that your uncle already has a gmail account.  He will need to go to the following link to sign himself up, we can not do that for him.

https://groups.google.com/g/maeaa

Looking forward to working with him.

Jim

On Aug 28, 2025, at 9:25 AM, Emily Wolfe <eawo...@gmail.com> wrote:

Good morning! My uncle recently purchased an EV. Could someone add him to the google group so he is included on future email messages? I wasn't sure how to do so. His email (msca...@gmail.com) is copied on this message. Thank you!

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/maeaa/CAMJYM5jen6q9WEoCNESAJ%3DsZWxBtbuN2qbM5AdiJUiEPd1ywpg%40mail.gmail.com.

[Emily Wolfe]

Good morning! My uncle recently purchased an EV. Could someone add him to the google group so he is included on future email messages? I wasn't sure how to do so. His email (msca...@gmail.com) is copied on this message. Thank you!

On Wed, Aug 20, 2025 at 11:30 AM Cameron SS <Camero...@gmail.com> wrote:

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/maeaa/CAMJYM5jen6q9WEoCNESAJ%3DsZWxBtbuN2qbM5AdiJUiEPd1ywpg%40mail.gmail.com.