When it comes to succeeding in the marketplace with an alternative energy vehicle, building a good car is only one part of the equation. If you want lots of people to adopt the new technology, they have to be able to recharge it regularly and with ease. It's arguably a reason that Tesla's cars have been such a hit. Fifteen minutes on a Supercharger will give an empty Model S or Model X a range of more than 100 miles, enough to reach the next Supercharger (lather, rinse, repeat).

Even more appealing is the fact that those Model S and Model X drivers don't have to pay anything for the privilege; access to the company's Supercharger network is factored into the purchase price (although it was a $2,500 option for the less-powerful Model S at one point). Unfortunately for the more than 400,000 people who've ordered a Model 3, this won't be the case. During a shareholder call on Tuesday, Elon Musk explained that economics mean that Tesla is not going to offer that same deal to customers of the $40,000 electric vehicle.

The cheapest Model S costs $71,500 before any tax incentives or rebates, and most customers spend a lot more than that to buy the more powerful 90kWh version. By contrast, the Model 3 will almost cost half that amount, produced in much larger volume. It is likely that Tesla will offer Model 3 customers a cost option for lifetime access to the network, but Musk told shareholders that the company will have to charge Model 3 owners something, because it hasn't worked out how to do it for free.

In the call, Musk also appeared to encourage Model 3 owners to charge at home or work, rather than avail themselves of the Supercharger network. "The best thing to do with an electric car is to charge your car where you charge your phone. Would you really take your phone to a gas station? … Driving to a Supercharger in order to get $5 worth of electricity and spending half an hour of your time, you’re like, maybe barely at minimum wage. So it’s just not the best thing for people, but you know, they kind of do it out of habit," he said.

Still, home- and workplace charging is at least a feasible option for EV owners, whether they drive a Tesla or a different make. For hydrogen fuel cell EVs, things are much spottier. Hydrogen-powered vehicles were all the rage at 2014's LA Auto Show and 2015's New York International Auto Show, and the technology is receiving a lot of attention from car makers in Germany and Japan. Toyota's Mirai and Hyundai's Tucson are the first fuel cell cars available in the US, but only in California–for good reason: that's just about the only place you can fill one up.

Even in California, coverage is spotty, with most stations clustered around Los Angeles and San Francisco. However, Automotive News reports that Honda and Toyota want to change that. The Japanese OEMs have given a company called True Zero (which operates the largest franchise of H2 stations in California) almost $14 million in loans to grow its operations, in addition to almost $30 million that the company has received in grants from the California Energy Commission and others. California also recently amended its EV tax incentive program to make fuel cell cars more attractive, giving purchasers $5,000 back (on top of the IRS tax credit).

Whether that will be enough to really help hydrogen compete with battery EVs is unclear. Most hydrogen is produced from hydrocarbon stocks, and it's an energy-intensive process. Barring some breakthroughs, we're not sure it will ever be able to compete with electricity. It's also difficult to store since the molecules are so small that even a well-pressurized tank will leak over time.