The writer went to a level 2
The writer went to a level 2 charger in Vegas to recharge for an immediate return trip, rather than seek out one of 13 DC fast chargers around the city. That's where the deliberately provocative and unrepresentative "5 hours plugged in" in the title comes from.
Had he encountered ICEd stations, broken units, wait times at the charge station, or any other number of potential issues, I'd say fair observation. But screwing up that most basic element of planning, whether through lack of research or deliberate misdirection to fuel the story, puts this firmly in the category of user error.