Checkout what I drove today: A Tesla Roadster.

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Originally Posted by RawAlex

Most places won't let you plug in to recharge, and just as importantly, battery life is compromised with partial charging. So you don't want to plug in for an hour, and shave 6 months off the life of the battery overall.

This is not correct. Old batteries such as the Delco batteries in the GM EV-1 had this problem, but this has been solved. The battery and charging system have no "memory" problem like you are describing.

The Tesla Roadster doesn't just have 1 batter - it has thousands of small "notebook" batteries. It is normal for some of them to fail but they are guaranteed for 3 years to lose no more than 20% of their ability to retain a full charge. When it comes time for service, a diagnostic program tells the "mechanic" which batteries are dead or dying, and are replaced.

I asked the sales rep who let me drive the car (Hans) about this though. He says that he charges his car every day by plugging it in at home. For long trips though, he has to plan his route so that he can stop at places to plug-in and charge his car.

As for places not letting you plug-in, thats possible, but its too bad for them. The total cost to charge the car is a whopping $4.00 of electricity. It won't be long before some enterprising companies setup Electric charging stations in various locations around the country. It currently takes 3 hours to fully charge a Tesla. This is a fantastic opportunity for "truck stops" to become full service stops that would include Hotels, long-dinner restaurants, movie theatres, parks, etc.

I'm excited for the future. Can you tell?