a true American Independence story.....
Those umbilici sort of put paid to "independence". I consider the small capacity and long, long charge times to be no small inconvenience.
The real problem is that I cannot make an economic argument for owning a Tesla. The 19" Long Range model with not many options is $90 000.
And (let's strip away the artifice and indirection of power subsidies for e-car users) the local marginal rate per kWh is $0.51.
85 kWh at that rate (and if you need juice you need it at once)is $43 bucks, and that'll take me less far (real-life range at 70mph is 323 miles for the 19" Long-Range Sedan model S) than $32 of fuel (and 6 minutes of my time to fill it) will take my Honda Fit which gets me 44 mpg local and 46-48mpg highway.
Granted, you won't wanna be stuck behind me.
But at which point does the Tesla compete effectively?
Also, you know the earthquake that hit SoCal today? Imagine the utilities are hosed for a week. What's the plan B then?