UPDATE: Tesla may use Texas model vs. NJ dealer rules

Tesla is mulling its future in New Jersey now that the state Motor Vehicle Commission has adopted a rule Tesla says will make it harder to sell cars through its planned direct-sales network in the state.

"I am still waiting on confirmation for exactly what the next steps will be and how this will impact us," spokesman Patrick Jones told me. Texas, like New Jersey, has rules that make car companies sell through franchised dealers, not the Tesla direct-sales way; so instead of the boutique-style Tesla stores the company operates in other states, Tesla has "Galleries" promoting its cars in Texas -- but it's banned from advertising prices at those sites, or running test drives. "We are still waiting for more details so this model for NJ has not been confirmed," he added.

Tesla locations mapped here. (More on the NJ story at PhillyDeals here, my column in today's Inquirer here, Star-Ledger story here. ) More from Tesla drivers:

Jack Musgrove, who commutes between homes in western Massachusetts and King of Prussia for his computer business, says he was looking forward to a promised Tesla charging station near the NJ Turnpike, which he now expects will be delayed. He'll have to keep risking his 200-mile-range Testa 143 miles from his Pa. apartment, to Tesla's Darien, Conn. recharge station, then another 160 miles to his western Mass. (He says Tesla batteries fill in 20 minutes at a "supercharged" 400-volt station; or overnight from your 240-volt washer/dryer or electric-stove line; or a whole day from your 110-volt wall outlets.)

Musgrove also likes the charging station at the Delaware Welcome Center on I-95. The company has its own service center in an industrial pocket of Norristown, which Musgrove says is moving soon to a much more visible Main Line site on U.S. 30.

Separately, Tesla owner Hugh Connelly of Shamong Township, Burlington County, N.J. writes that state rules already make the purchase and finance process for Tesla purchases "ridiculously cumbersome," and warns the new rule "would make it even more so. It is clearly the politicians protecting their PAC (campaign-donor) friends adn not doing what's right for the future and for consumers."

Connelly predicts Tesla will triumph, in time; the company "is smart enough to innovate around" the politicians, lobbyists and bureaucrats. He still decries "the waste of resources: What if Internet sales had to go through local retailers? How would Amazon have evolved if you could only buy thorugh franchisees? New Jersey should stop being so New Jersey-ish, and get moving forward in a progressive manner."