Illustration of BWM Active-E like that being offered for short-term rental in San Francisco.

Hiriko electric car is designed to fold up when parked.

Tesal Model S starts at £50,000 and will be available in Britain fall of 2013.

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04-Feb-2013

PHOTO CAPTION: Close-up view of Telsa's proprietary charge port on Model S.

Translogic Gets Hands-On Experience with Tesla Supercharger Network

By comparison, the GE charger at the author's residence can recharge up to 16 miles of range per hour, while the Tesla unit can replenish 50 miles of range per hour.

When Tesla Founder and CEO Elon Musk announced the Supercharger network last fall, the EV world changed. Instantly, the notion of "range anxiety" in an electric car evaporated for Model S customers within most of California. Furthermore, Musk announced that the energy will be free to Tesla customers at all Supercharger locations. But, is that enough to convince consumers that EVs are here to stay?

When Tesla announced the Superchargers, they offered us a chance to try out the technology by taking a road trip in a Model S from Santa Barbara to Tesla's Design Center in Hawthorne, Calif. and back--about a 200 miles total. Before the journey, we spent a few days with the car in Santa Barbara, simply living with it.

In Santa Barbara, we know two charging stations: the 240 volt, 30 amp GE model at the author's residence, and the 240 volt, 70 amp Tesla-branded charger at the local bank. In our experience, the GE unit can recharge up to 16 miles of range per hour, while the Tesla unit can replenish 50 miles of range per hour. (Interestingly, the Tesla charger was installed as part of the company's original high-power charger network for the Tesla Roadster.) Tesla also offers a high-power charger for the home that can be connected to solar panels from Solar City.

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