Again, I disagree. I have a great deal of anxiety about paying 150,000.00 for a car that becomes impractical when contemplating a 400 mile road trip...but I still did it. The issue for TM is how many people DONT because of the same issue. I'm not even touching on the range issues one my feel in their ad-hoc driving once they reach their destination. It is exactly this kind of range anxiety that will be leading the broader market into making the decision to not purchase an MS because they do 2 trips a year and don't feel comfortable because of the range issues. Also, the tweet noted over the air updates as the problem solver here.
And, do you really think the average consumer is OK with having to trip plan with algorithms and predictive outcomes for that exact moment when they need to charge? There are a few people on this forum that really geek out on that concept, but I join the average consumer in the thought that mapping your trip out like an airline pilot would be the catalyst for anxiety AND heartburn.
Having read 90% of this thread this feels a little like an echo chamber - one I'm hoping Elon was outside when he announced an end to "range anxiety". As someone who doesn't own a Model S, but has driven 5 and rented one for TMC, the discussions of NAV optimization, routing assistance and power modulation/optimization are all giving in to range anxiety and giving me anxiety. Having no range anxiety is running the P85D in insane mode and burning electrons egregiously without care of location or proximity to home or the nearest supercharger or 9v battery. Range anxiety is going in a caravan on the PCH with New moderator Paul Carter in his 60 with my rental P85, having a little too much fun on the accelerator and having Paul nurse the 60 into Atascadero drafting on semis to make it to the charger.
Eliminatng range anxiety is not proving you can go from point A to point B with an EV....Tesla, for the first time, has proven that. Eliminating range anxiety is allowing people to go from point A to point B with little or no compromise. If you told Porsche, Lincoln Continental Convertible or Hellcat owners that they could own their cars and operate them as long as they planned their trips in detail in advance and adhered to the route and speed recommendations based on the temperature and the wind - they would either throw up, begin to weep or tell you to pack sand. If Elon has a presser to announce Waze for Model S then I will do the same.
It's time to start getting limber for 500,000 + EVs on the road in a few years. We maxed out 10 stalls in Atascadero with about 8,000 Model S's on the road in California. What happens when there are 100,000, many of them with potentially less range than an X or an S?
its time for destination charging on a grand scale, facilitated by an OTA software that will guide you (worldwide) to the nearest supercharger or one of 10,000 + destination charging locations. Anything less will likely be viewed as a patch or a bone to early adopters.
And as far as from an investment standpoint, there has been a bunch of discussion about drops in stock price based on a string of negative stories related to production, demand, China, Jerome....you name it. Wall Street is agnostic on whether news is good or bad - they can make money trading both. Wall Street hates uncertainty....and Tesla has been serving that up in Spades. The best gifts Elon could give shareholders on Thursday would be a vision for a historic expansion in the scope of charging available in an easily understandable way (all Wal-Marts, McDonalds and Starbucks) and firm dates for announcements on home storage, Model X and Gigafactory.
A) If the announcement is Tesla Waze - the stock gets beat up and Tesla is still struggling to move beyond early adopters.
B) if it is Waze to 10,000 new points of light - the stock does well and I can tell my friends that when I get my X, I most often charge it in my garage, but when I need to top off, I just pop into (Wal-Mart, Starbucks.....etc).
if Elon spins another string of reveals a la 2013 in addition to B)....it's go time.
My 2 cents.