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Comment by antonioevans | Hacker News Reader

Can't wait to do a test drive of the car.

I got a chance to chat with one of the test drivers who've been flogging a model S around the Bay Area. He indicated that it was pretty zippy with some mild hooliganry possible. I don't think you'll be dissapointed.

I don't really even feel a need to test drive it first. I'm just waiting until I have a place to charge it and my current car dies.

I wonder, what fraction of households in the US has the electric power necessary to charge an electric car?

240 volt at 40 amps is the same as an electric oven, so I'd say almost all of them.

The bigger barrier is people living in apartments.

The kind of apartments where Tesla owners live (or the Google offices where they work) can easily install power outlets in the garage.

I am currently stuck in my girlfriend's condo building in Oakland (moving to my own place would be politically unpopular, and she can't move until she finishes her current contract. It is underwater, and worth about 110k per unit now.). This is not the kind of building likely to have ev charging -- a Tesla costs more than the condos or net worth of most residents..

Shared office in a big building. Neither is really a viable option to get a charging station added.

Hardly a problem. As soon as there is demand, apartment buildings will start offering power outlets along with parking spaces.

Don't live in a building with onsite parking? Parking lots offering charging spaces will begin to spring up. That's the nice thing about capitalism: if there's an opportunity to make a buck, someone will jump on it.

They expect to sell 20,000 cars (Model S) in 2013: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120509/AUTO0104/2050904...

It could take quite some time until market demand for power outlets will become significant.

It isn't a showstopper, but it will certainly prevent many apartment dwellers from being early adopters.

Indeed, though the transition to electric vehicles will happen gradually in any scenario, so that's not a huge problem.

Over time I expect that many street parkings will have power outlets kind of like park-meters.

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