乘坐特斯拉，你能走多远？

    这辆车快速平稳：可以在4秒内完成0至60英里/时的加速，而不会有内燃机的轰鸣声。它需要在陡峭弯曲的山路上高速行驶。我们试着迫使这辆车高水平发挥。但这也是一个难题。

    计划很简单——把纯电动汽车特斯拉（Tesla）Model S从洛杉矶开到旧金山。我和父亲能让这辆电动汽车不打折扣地高速行驶这么远吗？我们能在风景如画的加州公路上享受一次美妙的旅途吗？出发15个小时后，当我们于夜晚11点开进加州中部一家商场的停车场时，答案见了分晓。电池已经完全耗尽，仪表盘提醒我们立刻充电。在一番咒骂和绝望的搜寻之后，我们总算得救了：我们发现了一家充电站。不过要想开完最后的20英里抵达宾馆，还需要充电一个小时。我们只好盯着发光的手机屏幕静静地等待。

    人们预测2013年是电动汽车年。雪佛兰（Chevy）Volt在2012年的销量是前一年的三倍。而在特斯拉更加昂贵的汽车获得《汽车趋势》年度大奖之前，已经有1.3万辆的订单了。如果你现在为价值6万至10万美金的特斯拉轿车支付5000美元的定金，也得等到秋天才能提车。尽管路上行驶的汽车中只有0.3%为纯电力驱动，仍然有预测认为，接下来10年中，电动汽车的销量会以每年40%的速度上涨。既然一系列可以高速、远距离行驶的电动汽车已经出世了，充电站又在哪里呢？为汽车制造商建立充电网络的新兴公司的回答是：我们正在努力。

    一座充电站的成本1万美元到4万美元不等。一半来自设备本身，另一半则是安装费用。即使如此，不同充电站的充电效率也相差甚远：有的站充电半小时只能让汽车跑10英里，有的则可以跑150英里。加利福尼亚充电领域的商业开发创业公司eVgo的主管特里•欧岱认为这种商业模式“与手机网络相似”。顾客每月交付费用——最高达89美元——以获得eVgo充电站的使用许可。Tesla的车主可以在其为数不多的超级充电站免费充电。另一家新兴公司Carcharging的CEO迈克尔•法卡斯如此评价特斯拉的充电站：“这更像是创始人艾伦•马斯克的魔法，而不是现实。这些充电站的目的在于缓解人们一个主要的焦虑——里程焦虑——并影响到了市场的其他地方。”

    特斯拉的首席技术官和共同创始人J.B.斯特劳贝尔表示，公司充电站的预算来自销售。特斯拉几乎没有广告投入，但他们在商城内开店起到了和广告相似的作用。公司并不借助传统的经销商。

    斯特劳贝尔谈到充电站时说：“我们对此非常乐观。我们在安装时并非千篇一律——我们拥有探测位置的专门团队。” 迄今为止，充电站只供特斯拉的Model S轿车使用。

    在旅途的第二天，我们就停在了加州吉尔罗伊小镇上的这样一个充电站中，这个小镇以大蒜产业和直销中心闻名。这个超级充电站有4个停车位。“真有雄心，”我父亲说道。插上电源后不到10分钟，就有另一辆特斯拉开了进来。接着又来了一辆——车主从圣何塞来，要去直销中心退还货物，此外他还很好奇。仅仅一小时后，我们就充满了电。如果保守地驾驶，我们还能开280公里。或者我们可以去找些弯曲的山路，好让这辆车大显身手。最后我们选择了第二种方案。

    译者：严匡正

    The car is fast and smooth: zero to 60 mph in four seconds with none of the rumble of internal combustion. It demands to be driven at high speed, on hilly, winding roads. We tried to oblige. This was a problem.

    The plan -- to drive the all-electric Tesla Model S from Los Angeles to San Francisco -- was simple. Could we (my father and I) travel in an electric automobile that went so far, so fast, without compromise? Could we take a great California road trip over scenic routes so abundant in the Golden State? The answer came 15 hours after we set out, rolling into a mall parking lot in Central California at 11 p.m.  The battery was fully drained; the dashboard read charge immediately. After some cursing and desperate scanning we found salvation: a charging station. It would be an hour before we had enough juice to travel the last 20 miles to our hotel. We waited in silence, staring into the glowing screens of our smartphones.

    It is predicted that 2013 will be the Year of the Electric Car. Chevy Volt sales tripled in 2012 from the previous 12 months, and the waiting list for Tesla's pricier sedan before it won Motor Trend's Car of the Year was 13,000 long. If you put down your $5,000 deposit for a $60,000 to $100,000 Tesla (TSLA) today, you'll be waiting until autumn. Though pure electrics represent just 0.3% of all cars on the road, sales are expected to increase 40% every year for the next decade. Now that a fleet of faster-driving, longer-range electrics is here, where does that leave the charging stations? The answer, from the startups building the networks to the car makers, is: We're working on it.

    A charging station costs $10,000 to $40,000. About half is for the unit itself; the rest, for the installation. Even then the rate of charge varies wildly: from a slow trickle of 10 miles of range for 30 minutes plugged in to 150 miles in the same span. Terry O'Day, the director of California business development for charge startup eVgo, describes its business model as "like a cellphone network." Customers pay a monthly subscription -- up to $89 -- for access to eVgo's stations. Tesla owners get access to its few Supercharge stations for free. Michael Farkas, CEO of CarCharging, another startup, says of Tesla's stations: "It's more [founder] Elon Musk's magic than reality. They're there to alleviate a major concern -- range anxiety -- and egg along the rest of the market."

    J.B. Straubel, CTO and co-founder at Tesla, says the budget for the company's charging stations comes out of marketing. Tesla spends little on ads, but its in-mall stores serve a similar purpose; the company does not use traditional dealerships.

    "We're being very opportunistic about this," Straubel says of the charge stations, which, so far, work only on Tesla Model S sedans. "We don't have a single cookie-cutter installation -- we have a team scouting locations."

    On the second day of the drive, we stopped at one such, in Gilroy, Calif. -- a town known for its garlic industry and outlet malls. The Supercharge stations covered four parking spaces. "Ambitious," my father said. Then, not 10 minutes after plugging in, another Tesla pulled up. Then another -- its owner had come from San Jose because he had something to return at the outlets, plus he was curious. Our battery was full after just an hour. Conservatively, we could drive another 280 miles. Or we could find some twisty roads over hills and really open her up. We went with the latter.