Not sure where you are driving to, but I bet there is a charger at your destination that you could hook up to, even if it isn't a supercharger.

But you wouldn't need to. Charge before you leave the house; you have 200+ miles of range. There and back leaves you 50 miles to spare. Your point about winter is a reasonable one, though again you can warm the thing up while connected to your house before you leave.

Here's an interesting article:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In...e-of-its-range

I'm speculating the range would be similar for the model E because to get the price down it will likely be somewhat from improved battery tech but also using a smaller battery. And they seem to have hit upon a range number that satisfies enough buyers to the point where they can't even keep up with demand. So I see little inventive for them to offer greater range anytime soon.

As far as advanced construction/lighter weight it seems our best hope is now (strangely) bmw who invested in the company in Washington that can mass produce carbon fiber. But I think I remember seeing the weight for the various parts of the tesla and the body shell was like 800 pounds. So even if it was made of carbon fiber it would probably only save a few hundred pounds. Nice but not game changing.

Although I am more impressed with the mass produced carbon fiber than I am with teslas big battery. It is something that can be applied to all cars ICE and EV to improve fuel economy, handling and safety!

Bloomfield College - believe me, parking is tough enough. Perhaps there's a charging station off campus.

How would this work:

My uncle lives in a New Hampshire resort area 13 miles from the nearest "town" (where there would likely be charging stations).

I visit him twice a year - it's about a 250 mile trek each way. Once there, we do quite a bit of driving around, going to dinner, the hardware store, stuff like that (everything's far away). How would I accomplish the "filling up" given the distance from town to where he lives? Would I leave the car in town 13 miles away while it charges up or just wait it out? How would I get there from CT 250 miles away without charging up? How long does it take to do these things?

I ask because I really don't know, but I wonder, when I look at how I drive, how I could ever accomplish a weekend like that with a Tesla without spending considerable time not only planning everything around refueling, but actually waiting for the refueling to happen.

Yes, exactly!

I'm waiting for a Mr. Fusion.

Could you add a charging circuit at his house? Or, if it's a resort area, suggest to the resort property owners that doing so might be in their interest?

Depending on the run/type, they are not that expensive--a NEMA 14/50 is a 240V, 50 Amp circuit, and the Tesla can add 20-30 miles of range per hour of charge on one of those.

But, yeah. Like I said, there are going to be cases where an electric car--even one with the range of the Tesla--won't work. For some people, a Tesla won't work as their only car for that reason. I certainly imagine that I will have to take one of my gas cars on some trips, even assuming the Supercharger build-out goes according to plan.

Don't you own 2 cars?

Why does it have to work perfectly for your every need to be a viable product?

Just because a convertible doesn't fit my needs doesn't mean they shouldn't be produced at all.

So, Bloomfield College near Montclair, right? And you're in CT somewhere--if you had to, it looks like you could supercharge at Darien on 95 on the way up or back. Wouldn't need to do much, just a quick stop.

And if you take the Merritt, they are added superchargers there, too, from what the people on the interwebs are saying.

Ok, so I see it takes an hour to charge up at the highest speed, but more realistically longer with the current infrastructure in place.

That means if you're staying anywhere far from home, a B&B for example, or at someone's house where there's no charger, you have to be prepared to spend considerable time in town and around charging stations - while your car "refuels".

The website makes light of this "have lunch while your car charges" ...

So, in my trip to New Hampshire, somewhere before the 200 mile mark, I'd have to have lunch near a charging station in northern Mass or southern NH. Then get to my Uncle's (where there'll be no charger) 13 miles from town.

At some point, I'll have to add another hour to charge (hoping it's a supercharger) and hit the road, and add yet another hour to "refuel" (if it's a SC) before getting home.

It's a car for people who have the means to experiment, but after having spent so much money, I still couldn't see it as a main car - the constant figuring, would get tiresome, god forbid you'd want to do something spontaneous and drive off course for a day - you'd have to call up a network of chargers and nearby diners...

Not for me, for others, enjoy it.