I mean you can definitely get around the limitation of not having a supercharging network. But once you are used to being able to charge 170 miles per half hour, anything else in comparison will seem unacceptable.
I have had a Model S 75D for a year. It maxes out at 96 kW charging (larger batteries will apparently take a higher power charge). That rate, of course, drops significantly after the battery is 1/2 full.
My girlfriend remains irked by the relative inconvenience of supercharging compared to fuelling an ICE car (but she is reasonably tolerant because she cares about the planet and indulges my love of the Tesla). She accurately points out that it's not just the slightly longer stops to charge, and not even just the slightly more frequent stops (a reasonably fuel efficient ICE can go much farther than 400 km on a tank of gas).
In addition to those issues, the supercharger network requires you to stop at Tesla's chosen waypoints. In the freedom of the modern gasoline station infrastructure, you can stop nearly anywhere for gas. That means, when your 6 year old needs to eat or use the bathroom, you must stop, even if there is no supercharger near. With an ICE car, though, there would probably be a gas station nearby, so your stop would not be "wasted". (Even) With a Tesla, sometimes mandatory stops are wasted stops because you can't supercharge where you happen to be when the child gets car sick or needs to eat or demands to go to some road side amusement so you need to stop AGAIN to charge, even if you just spent 40 minutes at a restaurant feeding the child.
But, again, my girlfriend tolerates these legitimate weaknesses in road tripping with a Tesla compared to an ICE car.
I'm a huge fan boy. Put down a deposit on a Model 3 on release day then got unsold to a Model S. I have watched the company for years (pre-Model S) and have owned 1 share of TSLA as a show of support since 2012. I love to road trip and love it even more in the Model S just because supercharging is so damn cool.
But even I have to say that anything less than the kW speed and frequency of superchargers is PAINFUL for road tripping.
I just did my 3rd trip to the Canadian Maritimes. There are no superchargers in the 4 provinces east of Quebec or Maine but NB Power has put in CHAdeMO and CCS stations along the TransCanada Highway in NB.
That sounds nice in theory, but the most you will actually get from CHAdeMO in a Model S 75D is 42 kW charging. More realistically, you can expect 37 kW charging, even with an empty battery.
The difference between that unbearably slow rate and a Supercharger is night and day. Again, I'm very grateful to NB Power (and the people who put CHAdeMO in NS; and the Quebec Tesla Owners' Club for lending out CHAdeMO adapters), but I would not buy a car for road trips if it could not use superchargers. (Most of my road trips are to the US, Ontario, or Quebec.) It is just not a viable way to travel if you're driving more than 650 km in a day (500km in the winter). Adding 2+ hours to what should be barely more than a 5 hour trip is insane, even for a fan boy like me.
IMO, the non-converted are not going to accept that kind of compromise in return for something as trivial as having air to breathe and no apocalyptic droughts in the future.
tl;dr: Tesla has done the minimum necessary in terms of infrastructure and charging standards to get the masses on board. They could improve (and I believe will). EVERYONE else is lying when they claim they want to sell EVs. Every one of the traditional car companies is only in the compliance business, or else they are incredibly stupid, because no one will buy a car* that adds nearly 50% extra travel time on road trips.
(*Unless they are buying it as a second car, or are one of the converted like me, or are smart enough to know they don't NEED to take road trips or can rent/borrow when they do.)
Wouldn't the one that came next be the competitor?
