????這輛車快速平穩：可以在4秒內完成0至60英里/時的加速，而不會有內燃機的轟鳴聲。它需要在陡峭彎曲的山路上高速行駛。我們試著迫使這輛車高水平發揮。但這也是一個難題。

????計劃很簡單——把純電動汽車特斯拉（Tesla）Model S從洛杉磯開到舊金山。我和父親能讓這輛電動汽車不打折扣地高速行駛這么遠嗎？我們能在風景如畫的加州公路上享受一次美妙的旅途嗎？出發15個小時后，當我們于夜晚11點開進加州中部一家商場的停車場時，答案見了分曉。電池已經完全耗盡，儀表盤提醒我們立刻充電。在一番咒罵和絕望的搜尋之后，我們總算得救了：我們發現了一家充電站。不過要想開完最后的20英里抵達賓館，還需要充電一個小時。我們只好盯著發光的手機屏幕靜靜地等待。

????人們預測2013年是電動汽車年。雪佛蘭（Chevy）Volt在2012年的銷量是前一年的三倍。而在特斯拉更加昂貴的汽車獲得《汽車趨勢》年度大獎之前，已經有1.3萬輛的訂單了。如果你現在為價值6萬至10萬美金的特斯拉轎車支付5000美元的定金，也得等到秋天才能提車。盡管路上行駛的汽車中只有0.3%為純電力驅動，仍然有預測認為，接下來10年中，電動汽車的銷量會以每年40%的速度上漲。既然一系列可以高速、遠距離行駛的電動汽車已經出世了，充電站又在哪里呢？為汽車制造商建立充電網絡的新興公司的回答是：我們正在努力。

????一座充電站的成本1萬美元到4萬美元不等。一半來自設備本身，另一半則是安裝費用。即使如此，不同充電站的充電效率也相差甚遠：有的站充電半小時只能讓汽車跑10英里，有的則可以跑150英里。加利福尼亞充電領域的商業開發創業公司eVgo的主管特里?歐岱認為這種商業模式“與手機網絡相似”。顧客每月交付費用——最高達89美元——以獲得eVgo充電站的使用許可。Tesla的車主可以在其為數不多的超級充電站免費充電。另一家新興公司Carcharging的CEO邁克爾?法卡斯如此評價特斯拉的充電站：“這更像是創始人艾倫?馬斯克的魔法，而不是現實。這些充電站的目的在于緩解人們一個主要的焦慮——里程焦慮——并影響到了市場的其他地方。”

????特斯拉的首席技術官和共同創始人J.B.斯特勞貝爾表示，公司充電站的預算來自銷售。特斯拉幾乎沒有廣告投入，但他們在商城內開店起到了和廣告相似的作用。公司并不借助傳統的經銷商。

????斯特勞貝爾談到充電站時說：“我們對此非常樂觀。我們在安裝時并非千篇一律——我們擁有探測位置的專門團隊。” 迄今為止，充電站只供特斯拉的Model S轎車使用。

????在旅途的第二天，我們就停在了加州吉爾羅伊小鎮上的這樣一個充電站中，這個小鎮以大蒜產業和直銷中心聞名。這個超級充電站有4個停車位。“真有雄心，”我父親說道。插上電源后不到10分鐘，就有另一輛特斯拉開了進來。接著又來了一輛——車主從圣何塞來，要去直銷中心退還貨物，此外他還很好奇。僅僅一小時后，我們就充滿了電。如果保守地駕駛，我們還能開280公里。或者我們可以去找些彎曲的山路，好讓這輛車大顯身手。最后我們選擇了第二種方案。

????譯者：嚴匡正

????The car is fast and smooth: zero to 60 mph in four seconds with none of the rumble of internal combustion. It demands to be driven at high speed, on hilly, winding roads. We tried to oblige. This was a problem.

????The plan -- to drive the all-electric Tesla Model S from Los Angeles to San Francisco -- was simple. Could we (my father and I) travel in an electric automobile that went so far, so fast, without compromise? Could we take a great California road trip over scenic routes so abundant in the Golden State? The answer came 15 hours after we set out, rolling into a mall parking lot in Central California at 11 p.m. ?The battery was fully drained; the dashboard read charge immediately. After some cursing and desperate scanning we found salvation: a charging station. It would be an hour before we had enough juice to travel the last 20 miles to our hotel. We waited in silence, staring into the glowing screens of our smartphones.

????It is predicted that 2013 will be the Year of the Electric Car. Chevy Volt sales tripled in 2012 from the previous 12 months, and the waiting list for Tesla's pricier sedan before it won Motor Trend's Car of the Year was 13,000 long. If you put down your $5,000 deposit for a $60,000 to $100,000 Tesla (TSLA) today, you'll be waiting until autumn. Though pure electrics represent just 0.3% of all cars on the road, sales are expected to increase 40% every year for the next decade. Now that a fleet of faster-driving, longer-range electrics is here, where does that leave the charging stations? The answer, from the startups building the networks to the car makers, is: We're working on it.

????A charging station costs $10,000 to $40,000. About half is for the unit itself; the rest, for the installation. Even then the rate of charge varies wildly: from a slow trickle of 10 miles of range for 30 minutes plugged in to 150 miles in the same span. Terry O'Day, the director of California business development for charge startup eVgo, describes its business model as "like a cellphone network." Customers pay a monthly subscription -- up to $89 -- for access to eVgo's stations. Tesla owners get access to its few Supercharge stations for free. Michael Farkas, CEO of CarCharging, another startup, says of Tesla's stations: "It's more [founder] Elon Musk's magic than reality. They're there to alleviate a major concern -- range anxiety -- and egg along the rest of the market."

????J.B. Straubel, CTO and co-founder at Tesla, says the budget for the company's charging stations comes out of marketing. Tesla spends little on ads, but its in-mall stores serve a similar purpose; the company does not use traditional dealerships.

????"We're being very opportunistic about this," Straubel says of the charge stations, which, so far, work only on Tesla Model S sedans. "We don't have a single cookie-cutter installation -- we have a team scouting locations."

????On the second day of the drive, we stopped at one such, in Gilroy, Calif. -- a town known for its garlic industry and outlet malls. The Supercharge stations covered four parking spaces. "Ambitious," my father said. Then, not 10 minutes after plugging in, another Tesla pulled up. Then another -- its owner had come from San Jose because he had something to return at the outlets, plus he was curious. Our battery was full after just an hour. Conservatively, we could drive another 280 miles. Or we could find some twisty roads over hills and really open her up. We went with the latter.