You are correct.

That is the plan.

Guys, the stuff about battery swapping was in the annual report as I mentioned in my blog back in March:

"There was a hint in the annual report about battery-swapping stations"

http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/03/25/teslas-bmw-3-series-fighter-just-might-be-your-next-car/

Just to be clear, the Model S basically is running on 2011's batteries. As to what a 2018 would be able to use, that's another question, but I wouldn't use 2013 as the baseline year.

"But retail buyers consistently put more importance on initial purchase price (or monthly payment) than on the lifetime operating cost of a new car, even if it costs them money in the long run."

Just stop. Market better then.

Seriously.

The absolutely hideous appearance of the Outlander PHEV is not going to help it here either. This vehicle is a great concept that is going to die on the vine.

This would be incredibly popular in the U.S. The number of >original model< RX300s still in use -- because of their size -- is ridiculously high in the SF Bay Area, which also happens to have a gigantic number of Priuses.

A brand new, small, luxury, hybrid, CUV? Are you kidding me? Moneyball Lexus.

You are correct and the article as written is not. Everyone gets the hardware needed on board. But the software + Supercharger access is still a $2000 add-on for 60 kw/hour owners. It's just possible to activate anytime now since the needed hardware is always on board.

Originally, that would have required a retrofit and that might / might not have been doable.

Yes, but presumably that's an odd oversight. Under the most optimistic scenario, the marginal cost of the battery differential is about $4000. There is no way they will keep allowing people to order something that costs them so much more to build in the hopes they might someday activate the extra battery for more money.

I expect the options page to change very soon.

I cannot go a day without seeing one... Literally... And often, we see 5-10... Now, admittedly, we're in the heart of Silicon Valley, but it's still nice.