Tesla sucks?

John Broder reviewed the just-out Tesla for the New York Times.  Apparently the range for a charged-up Tesla is less than the company projects.  Broder got stuck -- but not until he'd tried every possible dodge to keep the car going including forgoing heat in the car on a frigid day. 

Reliability?  Fuggedaboutit.  Broder was lucky to be in constant touch with the company.  He was rescued.

... The displayed range never reached the number of miles remaining to Milford, and as I limped along at about 45 miles per hour I saw increasingly dire dashboard warnings to recharge immediately. Mr. Merendino, the product planner, found an E.V. charging station about five miles away.

But the Model S had other ideas. “Car is shutting down,” the computer informed me. I was able to coast down an exit ramp in Branford, Conn., before the car made good on its threat.

Tesla’s New York service manager, Adam Williams, found a towing service in Milford that sent a skilled and very patient driver, Rick Ibsen, to rescue me with a flatbed truck. Not so quick: the car’s electrically actuated parking brake would not release without battery power, and hooking the car’s 12-volt charging post behind the front grille to the tow truck’s portable charger would not release the brake. So he had to drag it onto the flatbed, a painstaking process that took 45 minutes. Fortunately, the cab of the tow truck was toasty. ...NYT

Damn.