No doubt this reporter did a lot of wrong, malicious or not. However the elephant in the room is that he charged to more than he needed for his trip out and back to the hotel from the supercharger, then lost 65 miles of it overnight. That would be unexpected to me and I've driven the Roadster in snow and freezing conditions. People seem to be sweeping this under the carpet and I hope Tesla actually addresses it.
It also came unexpected to me, and that's why I don't believe it just because he says it. I'm not saying it can't be true, but given the craziness of further actions, I have strong doubts about the numbers and what he thought he was being told exactly (and also about whether he conveyed the situation correctly and sufficiently to those who then advised him). While we have heard before that in cold temperatures there will be a lower displayed range shown in the morning, which then partially recovers while driving, these numbers would seem to be a rather extreme example, if they were correct, I think.
It appears (though I'm not completely sure), even based on his own account, that a full range charge at the previous Supercharger would have saved him from that trouble altogether (not that much was missing). Also, for trips in which a full range charge would not suffice, hotels will have EV plugs in the future, so in those cases this should not be an issue even for existing EVs. So I see this as a side-issue in terms of the story (though an issue which Tesla and perhaps this forum should examine separately, but this article doesn't seem to be a good starting point for 'lessons for the cold').
The key to the current situation, in my view, is that the Model S would have been very able to handle this trip, and with sufficient heating (as long as you are not too much in a hurry to wait for the supercharge to finish). The key message of the article is the claim that this would not be the case. Which appears to be false in terms of available information, and it sounds like Tesla's upcoming blog may show even more problems with the story.
Additionally, Tesla now claims to have given him sufficient instructions, at least for the second leg of the trip, contradicting his own report. So I hope we get that clarified in the upcoming blog, since Tesla received a lot of criticism for their assistance or lack thereof. Which perhaps they didn't deserve. But the important part, in my view, is that the Model S would have been up to the task (even in the cold), and it will get even better with more Superchargers and other infrastructure.
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The charge is ramping down, you have enough so why wait?
He suggests he believed that he could expect to simply get the "rated range", even though he apparently knew that it is speed dependent, and dependent on the use of the climate control, plus he made his first experiences on the first leg of his tour. I'm too tired to explain what I would be tempted to conclude from that.
