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At the supermarket, above, or at a free Tesla Supercharger Station on the New Jersey Turnpike, below, the gorgeous, relatively rare Model S turns heads. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR Oh, there goes another Mercedes (Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Cadillac etc. etc). When you drive a Tesla Model S, other drivers really notice, and you don't see yourself coming and going. In its third year of production, the luxury 4-door hatchback still is relatively rare. I've gotten thumbs ups from a passing motorcyclist on the interstate, a pedestrian and others. The reaction of other drivers is mixed. Some are aggressive, like the moron in a Volvo wagon who tried to pass me on Thursday after both of us got on Route 80 west in Englewood, N.J. My Model S 60 is a couple of seconds slower to 60 mph than the P85D that just broke the Consumer Reports ratings system, earning a perfect road test score of 100. But the zero to 30 mph and 40 mph times are dazzling when I've been challenged to a stoplight grand pr...

FOUR SUPERCHARGES, NO WAITING: No other Tesla owners were charging their Model S hatchbacks on Sunday afternoon at the Joyce Kilmer Service Area of the New Jersey Turnpike, but drivers of conventional cars were waiting on long gas lines that blocked the entrance to the parking lot, below. There were more than a half-dozen long lines of cars, SUVs and pickups at the pumps, above, and more arriving by the minute, below. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR I was that "crazy guy in a red car" who was driving through the packed parking lot against traffic on Sunday to reach a free Tesla Supercharger. Drivers of conventional cars gave me no choice as they backed up at New Jersey Turnpike gas pumps right onto the entrance ramps, blocking the right turn into the parking lot where the four Superchargers are lined up. I had to drive my Model S clockwise around the gas station plaza, then against traffic past the entrance to the building with the food court and bathrooms. I had visited the Joyce...

The current Mercedes-Benz G550 SUV has an MSRP of $115,400 and gets only 12 mpg in the city. Maybe it's time for the federal government to buy such vehicles and send them to the crusher as part of the effort to slow climate change. This well-kept G500 was seen at 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus, N.J. The boxy G500 is cramped inside, but three locking differentials are useful for making every sale at Westfield Garden State Plaza, New Jersey's biggest mall, no matter how deep the snow. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR The 2009 federal law referred to as the CARS Act gave owners of old vehicles a credit of $3,500 to $4,500 toward the purchase or lease of a new, more fuel-efficient vehicle. In just a few short weeks, more than 677,000 new vehicles with an average EPA rating of 24.9 mpg were sold or leased, replacing vehicles with an average rating of 15.8 mpg. In a 2009 report to Congress on the Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save Act, the reduction in fuel consumption over the next 25 ye...

The entrance to the Tesla Motors Service Center on Route 17 in Paramus, N.J.  By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR Tesla Motors is well-known for putting customers first -- from direct sales to free use for life of a nationwide network of fast electric chargers. Dealers for traditional automakers -- whether Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota or Mercedes-Benz -- have made buying and servicing a car two of life's most unpleasant experiences. Think of that last brake job the service writer insisted you absolutely had to have to keep your family safe from disaster (and to line his or her pocket with more commission). Now, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the first to take the focus off of service as a profit center: Tesla "intentionally operates its service centers at break-even," Musk says. "We don't believe in profiting off our product, if it is not working," he said in a message to Model S owners in rolling out Tesla's referral program. This is what he had to say about service: ...

THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES: Today, on the way home from Willow Grove, Pa., we stopped to use one of four Tesla Superchargers in the Joyce Kilmer Service Area of the New Jersey Turnpike in East Brunswick. This free Supercharger Station opened on July 29. By VICTOR E. SASSON EDITOR When I opened the Tesla app to monitor the charging of my Model S today, I saw a tab, "From Elon." CEO Elon Musk is reminding owners about a $1,000 gift certificate they can send to friends as a sweetener on the purchase of a premium all-electric four-door hatchback. And in a separate email, Musk makes a persuasive argument for why the Model S is far superior to any other car on the road in terms of safety, performance, efficiency and what he calls "cool features."  And Musk says that in a few weeks, via an over-the-air softwear update, Autosteer and Parallel Autopark functions will be enabled. They will allow the Model S to "automatically control steering going down the freeway, dramati...