I agree with you. I have spoken with a lot of people since I got my car, July 2015, that would get one if there was a service center closer to Syracuse/Rochester area. Right now the two closest I believe are Mt. Kisco and Montreal, both over 3+ hours away.
I sent a message to Tesla and they responded, they are working on increasing their presence in larger cities, but it takes time and there was no certainty indicated they would select Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo etc.
Let's set up a petition of some sort and get signatures to submit it as a group to Tesla. Anyone know how to do this? Because I don't.
Because Tesla needs to commit to Syracuse.
Tesla has only promised another 200 "stores and service centers" *worldwide* in the next two years. With this extremely limited number, they have to attempt maximum geographic coverage with each service center for now.
Syracuse would be a viable location to provide a minimal level of service to serve most of upstate NY with one service center. It is conveniently located at the junction of north-south and east-west Interstates.
* Buffalo is too far west to serve most of the Southern Tier, Central NY, or the North Country. With a Buffalo service center, they still need a Syracuse service center. And because of the national border, Buffalo can't service Canadian cars; it loses half of the "catchment area".
* Rochester is better, but it's still skewed too far west.
Basically it's either Syracuse, or open *three* upstate service centers immediately to get geographic coverage... and still want a service center in Syracuse. ;-)
I am also in the position where when my prepaid unlimited ranger service expires, I will have to sell the car *and buy a car not made by Tesla* unless they have opened a closer service center by then. They should have had a Syracuse service center by last year; it's ridiculous that they haven't committed to opening one yet. (The Syracuse metro area is sprawling, it's not like it commits them to a particular municipality or land deal.)