Maybe because he didn't have an hour and a half to sit around?
Of course he had the time. His job, at that moment, was to write a story about the charging capabilities, and the range of the car. If he is going to do that HONESTLY, he needs to take the time the car required to get the job done. Sounds like he had the story written, and made his 'facts' fit it.
As for how long it takes to charge the car, if you don't have the time to charge it up, don't buy one! You could charge it up in the time it takes to have a nice leisurely lunch with no real disruption to your day. If you're taking a trip, charge it up along the way.
But if you don't like the idea of having to charge a car up as you need it, buy a gasoline powered car, and fill it up, as you go; problem solved.
While no fan of either the NYT or electric vehicles, the journolist while deliberately sabotaging the test, unwittingly exposed a flaw in electric vehicles overall:
You can't rely on them in an emergency.
If the car had to be used in an emergency, say -- get the wife to the hospital to deliver a baby -- and hadn't been charged "enough" what would've happened? Baby born on the side of the road, that's what.
And therein lies the problem with Tesla. They fit a specific use case, but don't anyone with a fully functioning brain rely on one in an emergency unless you know damn' well it's got a full charge to go the distance required.