You will spend more time recharging a Tesla on a road trip at one of their 6000 or so Supercharging stations in the US than you will refueling a gas car but your gas car doesn't have a 1500 mile range either. If the additional time recharging a Tesla every 250 miles or so (probably about 40 mins) is an issue then rent a gas car for road trips. My wife and I often rent a car for road trips instead of using our gas car so we don't put the miles on our car. If most of your driving is local, the range is irrelevant since you will recharge at night at home.
I believe you will find that the range of Teslas will go from the current 300+ miles to close to 500 miles within the next 2-3 years (about the same as our current gas car). However, how much time you spend recharging on road trips is probably more a function of the power of the Superchargers than the range of the battery pack. For a given Supercharger, a larger battery pack means a longer charging time (since the charging time is non-linear with regard to the state of charge, a larger pack is always an advantage, however), but you will save some time by not having to pull off the highway as often.
Regarding the "money is no object" comment, for many people the 5 years total cost of ownership will be less with a Tesla Model 3 than a similarly sized gas vehicle because of the lower operating costs and lower depreciation.
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Originally Posted by EdFNJ
Amazing vehicle, my nephew has new one. Pulls about 10 g of gravity against you if you hit the "gas" pedal hard  but until you can drive them 1500 miles between charges I'd never own one (I'll just look and drool over the amazing technology) and IMO right now they are just a beautiful hi-tech expensive novelty. Can't see taking a 1300 mile trip up north and having to stop and charge every 250-400 miles depending on what battery pack you choose. If money is no object as it isn't for some then all the power (pun intended) to you and I'm plain jealous! |