[whatusername]

IF you don't charge it fully (or charge it over-night)

I live in Australia and go bush/camping a fair bit. I'm not getting a Tesla for raodtrips any time soon. But If I was to drive MEL->SYD in it -- I'd be recharging in full at each super-charger along the way (assuming they existed)

[kybernetikos]

I might have got the wrong end of the stick here, but I think he did. He wanted to test the super charger network, and then found after leaving the car in the cold overnight that although it had originally said he had the range to make it to the next supercharger, it now said that he didn't. Because of that he compromised and tried to top up with juice from a normal charger. That was the charger he didn't fill up completely from, where he did an unplanned and unexpected charge for approximately an hour (or approximately three quarters of an hour if you believe Tesla). Either way, he hadn't wanted to charge there in the first place, was keen to be moving again and believes that Tesla staff gave him the OK, telling him that the missing miles would come back once the car was going again.

[whatusername]

From Tesla's original post: "For his first recharge, he charged the car to 90%. During the second Supercharge, despite almost running out of energy on the prior leg, he deliberately stopped charging at 72%."

And the graph of battery levels shows what level he recharged to. http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/most-peculiar-test-drive

If he had charged to 100% for that last Supercharge - I wonder if the result would have been different.

[kybernetikos]

looks like you're right.

[bigiain]

For what it's worth, you weren't really going to go "bush/camping" in any of the Tesla Roadsters alternatives either. It's a high-end luxury sportscar. It's no more or less suitable for bush/camping trips than a 5 series BMW or an Audi A6.

And while it's clear it's not a suitable car for GT touring type roadtrips, it wouldn't be _too_ hard for a local Tesla dealer to set up a pair of Supercharger stations 280-320km outside both Sydney and Melbourne to make that trip viable - hell, with a decent espresso bar and a better-then-typical food establishment at each, they might even pay for themselves...

[whatusername]

Fair enough. (I drive a Navara camping - I wouldn't take a 5 series)

I'd probably want 3 superchargers for the Hume (Wangaratta, Gundagai, Goulburn is my rough placement) (In large part this is because MEL -> CBR is probably too far for just one recharge - ie: Frankston to Tuggeranong is 737km)