Blue Dot app claims 20% discount on Supercharging

[israndy]

I signed up for a service called Blue Dot:

Bluedot - EV Charging & Wallet

Introducing Bluedot: The Ultimate EV Charging Solution! Bluedot is more than just an electric vehicle (EV) charging solution. It's a comprehensive platform designed to enhance your electric vehicle experience, offering savings, rewards, and a community of EV enthusiasts. Whether you drive a Tesla,…

apps.apple.com

It's supposed to offer discounts on charging and claims you can link all your accounts under Blue Dot and then pay $0.30/kWh everywhere. They offer 20% off Tesla Supercharging. At least that's what *I* gleaned from the app and their site:

https://bluedot.app.link/PkThUe0tZub

I did manage to get an account but I'll be dig dogged if I can transfer money into it so I can use it to pay for Supercharging and others. I linked my bank account but each attempt to transfer money gives a server error. I tried to link my Blue Dot to my bank account and never got the confirmation code to confirm it.

 

[brancky3]

Can’t say I have, but is that really a deal? I don’t supercharge very much at all (5 times in 6k miles) but my average supercharger cost has been around $0.22/kWh

 

[RayK]

The local Superchargers that I frequent charges $0.23/kWh off peak and $0.40 peak. I rarely go there anymore since a CHAdeMO station closer to me is $0.19/kWh. Bluedot will not help me much locally but could be cheaper for traveling.

 

[buckets0fun]

Does this affiliate link give you a kickback or referral bonus?

 

[Rice&Curry]

I have received an invitation and several reminders from there CEO to sign up. I have not responded and do not intend to respond either. I have a home charger so unless I travel out of town i don't use super chargers or 3rd party chargers , so my use will be minimal and I don't want yet another credit card.

 

[israndy]

Yeah, I am trying to figure out how to use the card and was hoping someone else had experience. Finally got someone from Live Support to help, but I haven't been able to make use of the car yet.

The link to the app above is the link in my app, not sure if it's personalized to me, but you can go to thebluedot.co and it looks the same.

 

[israndy]

Well, I took a trip for T-day with my CCS adapter and can report that it is now easier to add money to your BlueDot account, you can put a debit card in and transfer money like making any other purchase with a debit card. With money on my account (just like loading an EV charging card) I can pay for things just like any credit card. They even offer a real plastic card, but I was fine just using a virtual card.

I have the ability to charge at their multitude of DCFCs around the globe and I used their map to find ones to stop at. They have corralled most non-EVgo and non-Electrify America chargers in one bucket. You start the charge by clicking in TheBlueDot app on the charger you are plugged into and then BlueDot bills you 30¢/kWh (or less it seems) for the charging you do at that station. I stopped at several 62.5kW chargers so I didn't waste too much time topping off, I got full speed to 85%

I also stopped at a few EA stations that I trusted more than the older ones BlueDot uses so I felt comfortable driving down to 5% SoC. It's a lot faster if you can just stop at the bottom of your charge and charge the battery's bottom half enough to get to the next charge station. Something we can do easily with Superchargers too, but is harder to trust that random DCFCs will not leave you in the lurch, so I always left at least 20% and then topped the car off when using BlueDot, but the most I paid was ~$9.

They also discount Supercharging by 20% if you tell Tesla to bill your BlueDot card for any paid charging. They call it Cash Back, but they only give you *points* that you can then use toward purchases from them, or supposedly gift cards like Amazon and such, they have yet to implement. I hope to get the Tesla Semi die-cast model when I have enough points. They also provide you some points for just letting them track you as you travel. I don't care while I am driving 800 miles to the in-laws, but not something I would leave on everyday.

All told, not a painful story, and it saved me money on the trip up here. Paid about $75 for the about 850 mile trip w/ zero free charging enroute (why did I ever sell that CHAdeMO adapter??)

 

[TOCSV]

I signed up for a service called Blue Dot:

Bluedot - EV Charging & Wallet

Introducing Bluedot: The Ultimate EV Charging Solution! Bluedot is more than just an electric vehicle (EV) charging solution. It's a comprehensive platform designed to enhance your electric vehicle experience, offering savings, rewards, and a community of EV enthusiasts. Whether you drive a Tesla,…

apps.apple.com

It's supposed to offer discounts on charging and claims you can link all your accounts under Blue Dot and then pay $0.30/kWh everywhere. They offer 20% off Tesla Supercharging. At least that's what *I* gleaned from the app and their site:

https://bluedot.app.link/PkThUe0tZub

I did manage to get an account but I'll be dig dogged if I can transfer money into it so I can use it to pay for Supercharging and others. I linked my bank account but each attempt to transfer money gives a server error. I tried to link my Blue Dot to my bank account and never got the confirmation code to confirm it.

You can reach out [email protected] for extra help. Once the card is up and running you won't turn back. The perks are amazing and you get locked into a specific rate. It is 0.30 kwH and the peak hours don't matter. All you need to do is hook it up to your Tesla account. Definitely reach out to the email I mentioned otherwise you will miss out on great perks.

 

[eevee-fan]

This thread deserves a bump. Looks like EVgo is on-board now. Would love to see EA and Tesla sign on. Maybe EA but I doubt Tesla would.

Also, if you want to use the app, you need to activate via their app to get the special rate.

 

[israndy]

They are trying to improve the deal, if you charge more than twice a month with the 30¢ chargers they now boost the discount, price goes down to 25¢ (although to get into the program you have to hit up 5 chargers in the first month and then make sure to not go below 2 a month there after).

I used an EVgo charger last night and it was sweet:

208kW!! The fastest my CCS adapter has ever gone. Of course that was when the F150 pulled in and plugged into the shared plug instead of using one of the dedicated 100kW stalls. Sheesh

 

[lensovet]

Randy, have you tried using the card to buy any accessories in the Tesla store? I wonder how/if they differentiate between SC charges vs. everything else?

 

[Limited]

Randy, have you tried using the card to buy any accessories in the Tesla store? I wonder how/if they differentiate between SC charges vs. everything else?

I suspect it is not very difficult to differentiate between the two. Although I have not attempted to purchase anything through the online store with bluedot, my past credit card statements clearly differentiate the merchants and the categories associated with each. For example, supercharging is billed by" Tesla Inc Supercharger" with the category type "Electric Vehicle Charging" while purchases made through the online Tesla webstore are billed by "Tesla" with the category type of "Automotive".

Using bluedot, supercharging gets 20% back with a max cash back of $15 per transaction. I would expect online Tesla store purchases to fall in the Automotive category with 5% back and a max of $15 cash back per transaction. Hope that helps.

 

[eevee-fan]

I got 5% cash back on my $250 deposit for my Tesla order.

BTW, my Bluedot Boost Program says I have to have 3 paid charging via the app to stay in the program.

 

[israndy]

That boost program sounded cool until I realized I would have to pay to charge when I DON'T need to in order to maybe save a tad more later. I didn't even try.

 

[eevee-fan]

That boost program sounded cool until I realized I would have to pay to charge when I DON'T need to in order to maybe save a tad more later. I didn't even try.

It really comes down to how you use your EV. I am retired, so very little local miles. Most of my miles are highway/road trips and I figure I'd save $80-100 a year on the Boost rate.

But I agree, I have home charging and having to go to the one local EVgo DCFC on months I don't travel is becoming a chore.

 

[eevee-fan]

I have to take a closer look at SuC along the way. Just noticed that a local SuC with very favorable rates! Not worth messing with apps or adapters to get 30c/kWh or 25c/kWh. Just use my Bluedot debit VISA and get 20% rebate on the price below. Midnight rate of 10c (so 8c for us) is actually cheaper than charging at home!

Update: Yeah, gonna drop out from the Boost Program. It's just not worth it. I had thought if it was worth using the CCS-Tesla adapter to get 30c, then 25c is even better. But at the rates I am seeing, it's only worth using the adapter and the app if I get in a bind, which should be rare to never.

BTW, would be great if we can set the Nav to a "$$$ eco mode" so it sends us to charge at the SuC with best rate at our ETA.

 

[Limited]

The boost membership email also mentions something about special incentives like cash back rates specifically for boost members, so not sure if that might be worthwhile in the future. As for maintaining membership, it mentions three charge sessions per month but doesn't specify how long those sessions need to be. I just charge up ~1 kwh, disconnect and start a new session. Takes me less than 15 min (with app delays) in order to get three sessions under my belt for the month and costs me less than a buck.

 

[eevee-fan]

The boost membership email also mentions something about special incentives like cash back rates specifically for boost members, so not sure if that might be worthwhile in the future. As for maintaining membership, it mentions three charge sessions per month but doesn't specify how long those sessions need to be. I just charge up ~1 kwh, disconnect and start a new session. Takes me less than 15 min (with app delays) in order to get three sessions under my belt for the month and costs me less than a buck.

15c if you can find an EVgo L2. Looks like the minimum connect time on a L2 is 2 minutes, so 5c per session.

 

[eevee-fan]

I just browsed more SuC in the Vegas area. Looks like many in the residential (not hotel) areas offer TOU rates with midnig to 4am at 10-14c per kwh and 17-18c per kwh from 4am to noon! 20% rebate on Bluedot card makes the SuC rate even better than the Boost 25c rate.

 

[israndy]

'SpC' is less sucky