Tesla Model S waffling

[JST]

All lit up:



On the West Coast, at least. Now if only they would get all the East Coast stations lit.

[Plaz]

I can't help but wonder, with these cars selling like hotcakes, how long it will be until there are intolerable lines at the charging stations during peak travel hours.

[JST]

Originally Posted by Plaz

I can't help but wonder, with these cars selling like hotcakes, how long it will be until there are intolerable lines at the charging stations during peak travel hours.

It's a good question. "Selling like hotcakes" is relative; there will be maybe 25 to 30,000 on the road by the end of the year.

Someone posted this pic on a Tesla forum a while ago.



This is apparently a screen showing Supercharger stats at HQ. You can see that some of them are much more heavily utilized than others. As the build-out continues, some of this will be addressed (e.g., the Superchargers in Edison and Parsippany will take some of the load off the Delaware site).

And the Superchargers are getting faster. New ones will be 120 kW, rather than 80, and word is that 135 is coming.

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showt...l=1#post469941

[ZBB]

Originally Posted by JST

All lit up:



On the West Coast, at least. Now if only they would get all the East Coast stations lit.

While I'm excited that they have completed the I-5 corridor, I'm still ~400 miles from the closest Superchargers (Barstow is is about 10 miles closer than Hawhorne).

In order for me to reach CA, we still need 2 Superchargers along I-10 between Phoenix and LA (Indio, CA and Quartzsite, AZ would be ideal).

Supercharger locations in Yuma AZ and El Centro, CA along I-8 have also been announced, but are not yet live. That would get us to San Diego...

We're planning a road trip up to BC next summer. ~1600 miles each way. We'd go at a leisurely pace -- poke along Big Sur, do some wine tasting in Napa or Sonoma, spend a couple days on the Oregon coast, and then a week at my in-laws in BC. Looking like 2.5-3 weeks.

[ZBB]

Originally Posted by Plaz

I can't help but wonder, with these cars selling like hotcakes, how long it will be until there are intolerable lines at the charging stations during peak travel hours.

Besides the pic that JST posted, here's what I've heard:

- Most of the new Superchargers have 8 bays. The original ones had 1-4 and have all been upgraded (or upgrades are in process). The only ones with 4 bays now appear to be southern Oregon and far north CA -- which are pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so probably unlikely to have more than 1-2 cars charging at a time (not that many people drive from San Francisco to Portland or Seattle)...

- The only backup/dealy reports so far have pretty much been in CA at SCs that only had 4 bays. Since they've been updated to 8 bays, they reports dropped significantly...

[JST]

Well, this is heartening. Sort of.

[Jeff_DML]

nice review/semi-odd source

As for the driving experience—well, you forget about all of the neat electronics and the touchscreen and the battery and the network of Superchargers when you slip behind the wheel because the Model S is not just a great electric car. It's a great car, period. That's the highest praise I can give; Tesla Motors has succeeded in making an excellent automobile that also happens to be the best electric car money can buy.

http://arstechnica.com/features/2013...tesla-model-s/

[JST]

Originally Posted by Jeff_DML

nice review/semi-odd source



http://arstechnica.com/features/2013...tesla-model-s/

And another:

http://everydaydriver.com/exotic/tesla-model-s-review/

What makes the Tesla special is the packaging. In the same way there were phones before the iPhone, the Tesla takes things already in the world and combines them to make something so new and revolutionary that we wonder why we haven’t seen it before. The Model S achieves the rare combination of feeling familiar enough to be comforting and instinctive, and different enough to make you rethink what you know.

...

In spite of the hype around electric cars, it’s unlikely that every car will be electric or made to work just like the Tesla. However, I find the Model S to be an unbelievable family car with usable space under every body panel and room for a family of 7. The car’s great power, new thinking, and the ability to be your only transportation will no doubt influence other automakers of all sizes.

The Model S is a genuine touchstone in the long history of automobiles.

Am looking forward to December.

[ZBB]

The Ars review was well done...

In other news, the first AZ Supercharger is under construction. It's in Quartzsite, on I-10 about 20 miles from the CA border, so perfect spot for road trips. There's also one under construction in Indio, CA to connect us to the I-5 corridor.

[equ]

Research released by Edmunds indicates the Model S is now the best selling car in eight of America's 25 wealthiest zip codes as ranked by Forbes. At the top of that list is Atherton, California, a Silicon Valley town near Tesla's Palo Alto headquarters where the average home costs $6.65 million.

http://jalopnik.com/the-tesla-model-...cas-1456273385