Most of the public battle over Tesla Motors Inc.’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) ability to sell and service its cars is whether dealers, state by state, can keep Tesla out of their regions due to fear of competition. Less is said about where a Tesla can be charged when people have one. Tesla has tried to make the charging process simpler by offering its own charging stations, but in some states there are none of these at all.

As might be expected, most states without Tesla installed chargers have huge square mileage, or they are states where populations are relatively poor.

In January of this year, Tesla completed its coast-to-coast Supercharger chain of free battery-charging stations. The network ran down the West Coast from Washington to San Diego, then across the United States, after turning north from Albuquerque, east through South Dakota, on to the East Coast, where it included stations from Connecticut to Florida. Tesla also added five Supercharger stations in Texas that comprise their own network.

According to the company’s website, Tesla now offers 112 Supercharger stations in North America, including three in Canada. But there are still 18 states where the free charging stations are not available:

• Hawaii
• Alaska
• Idaho
• North Dakota
• Nebraska
• Oklahoma
• Louisiana
• Arkansas
• Missouri
• Iowa
• Kentucky
• Mississippi
• Alabama
• West Virginia
• New Hampshire
• Vermont
• Maine
• Massachusetts

A 30-minute charge at one of Tesla’s Supercharger stations powers the car for up to 170 miles.

By the end of next year, Tesla expects to have Supercharger stations in all 48 continental U.S. states. The network will serve 98% of the U.S. population, as well as parts of Canada.

Tesla’s shares traded down nearly 5% Monday, following a cautious note from J.P. Morgan published in Barron’s. J.P. Morgan is maintaining its Neutral rating, “balancing incremental news flow likely to track positive with valuation that appears stretched and execution and competitive risk that seems underappreciated….” Shares were trading at around $246.20, in a 52-week range of $116.10 to $291.42.

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