I just viewed the link. I think he's partially right. But babying the car isn't the answer(IMHO). We don't know about the lifetime of the batteries overall. However Tesla is convinced (and I believe it) that battery longevity in terms of miles will be great. When I get my Model S, I intend to drive it as much as possible. I'm convinced I could drive up to 200kmiles in 8 years (with the 85kW-h pack, if I had the time and desire) without undue battery degradation. For me, the questions are "How much do the batteries degrade over time? Will the batteries die suddenly after 7 or 8 years? Has anyone done any long term testing on the shelf life of this chemistry?"
I just stumbled on this thread. Interesting that the USA Today article was pretty good overall, considering, but the comments were mostly idiotic, while the Bloomberg piece was idiotic, but the comments were pretty good (at least the few I read).
The batteries are indeed the biggest question mark. The chemistry is too new to have solid longevity data. I am optimistic, but until there is solid data, many consumers will be wary. But sudden battery death is extremely uncommon. There will be a few, because anything that can happen, will happen occasionally. But the major mode of battery failure will be a gradual decline in range until the car no longer goes far enough to meet your needs.
I drive my Roadster on a daily basis. I don't drive a lot of miles per year, and my annual nearly thousand mile summer hiking road trip up to Canada is in the Prius, so I put on only 3,600 miles in my first year. But that was ALL my driving, except for the summer trip, parking at the airport, and hauling recycling. HOWEVER, Tesla told me there are 4 other Roadsters in this area and I've never seen any of them except one on display once at the country fair. I wonder if the others drive theirs much. Some folks buy a nice car just because they want it, then take it out a few times a year. So there are both kinds.
I believe these batteries will last longer than anticipated. But nobody really knows. Three years on the road is just too short a time.