Consumer Reports BIAS against Tesla. BOGUS RANGE ANSWER LIMITS FOR TESLA ON QUESTIONNAIRE

[CBGPE]

Friday I went on the Consumer Reports web sit to fill out a survey on my cars.
When I got to the question of range on a full charge the MAXIMUM range I could enter was 100 miles
OR I could answer "unsure"
See below what I copied and pasted below from the survey.
Well I am NOT UNSURE and I have gotten the estimated range.
Over 20580 miles I have averaged 310 watts per mile on my 2021 Plaid so 320 miles on average year round for a 100 KW battery pack is about right.
SO WHAT IS UP with Consumer reports
UNBIASED ??? REALLY

On average, how many miles can you drive this vehicle on battery power alone before it's completely depleted of power?

Please provide your best estimate. Type in a whole number.

2021 Tesla Model S

• The answer is outside the valid range for this question.
• 335

Unsure

2020 Tesla Model X

• The answer is outside the valid range for this question.
• 315

Unsure

SO I sent the following email to Consumer reports. So far crickets.
What do I think?
Good old media bias.
Unhappy with MUSK set up a bogus smear.


Dear Consumer Reports.
I took you up on your request to fill out you are a questionnaire in regard to my vehicles. When I tried to answer the question about the range of the vehicles it refused to accept my response and limited me to a range estimate of 100 miles. That is absolutely bogus. Further it refused to let me complete the survey. I am not unsure of the range of my vehicles. I'm a licensed professional engineer. I do automotive accident reconstruction. Range is of course dependent on operation. For normal driving I have achieved the range estimate given below. Aggressive very high-speed driving will result and lower ranges. As will use of the climate control system. So below I copied and pasted from your site the questions and my response are my Model S driven normally will in fact go 335 miles. My model X will in fact if driven normally go 335 miles. I am sure that if I took my vehicles to the autobahn and Germany and drove them at top speed the range would be dramatically less. I do not understand why your questionnaire limits my answer to a bogus number. Please reply to this e-mail.

On average, how many miles can you drive this vehicle on battery power alone before it's completely depleted of power?

Please provide your best estimate. Type in a whole number.

2021 Tesla Model S

• The answer is outside the valid range for this question.
• 335

Unsure

2020 Tesla Model X

• The answer is outside the valid range for this question.
• 315

Unsure

 

[Sam1]

After finding out a few years ago that companies have to pay JD Power to get positive reviews on their cars, I stopped caring about any of those 'services'.

The other thing was that I kept getting regular questionnaires on some of the other new cars I bought after leaving them one positive review. I got fed up with getting so many that I left a bad review and they instantly stopped sending them. It's all a bunch of manipulated data BS.

 

[ucmndd]

Your own bias is showing if you’re answering a survey stating you can get an average of 335 miles from a full Plaid battery. Yeah right.

Regarding CR: an obvious and apparent logistical error in a survey is not bias.

 

[CBGPE]

Your own bias is showing if you’re answering a survey stating you can get an average of 335 miles from a full Plaid battery. Yeah right.

Regarding CR: an obvious and apparent logistical error in a survey is not bias.

Yesterday when driving across Rockland county N Y , very hilly terrain, lots of curves and some stop signs and traffic lights I actually used less range than the actual miles covered on the round trip. I was not using the climate control but had my windows open it was a nice day. Sure if I drive FAST 75 mph I get less range. I made it clear what my average year round energy consumption from my Plaid was 310 watts per mile and the 320 mile range calculated from that.
Why do you need a drop down menu for a numerical entry pray tell ?
Why limit it to 100 miles ? 3 digits can allow a entry of 999 miles ?
I have a lot of company in my miss trust of the media.

 

[CBGPE]

I just checked my Email and I have 3 likes and no dislikes. I will put ucmndd in the dislike column. The the ratio is much like the ratio of people who miss trust the media vs those who really trust the media. Like I said I have lots of company.

 

[ucmndd]

Using your own math and consumption figure: if your plaid has 100kwh of usable capacity (it doesn’t), 310 wh/mi provides a HYPOTHETICAL max range of 310 miles. Turning that into 320 because you feel like it and then rounding up to 335 for your survey answer is the real bias problem with surveys like this. They’re asking people to answer a question most can’t answer so they fill in the blanks with what they think. What people think about something when they have a significant financial investment and the associated confirmation bias with that investment (positive or negative) is notoriously unreliable.

Good surveying is hard.

 

[ucmndd]

I just checked my Email and I have 3 likes and no dislikes. I will put ucmndd in the dislike column. The the ratio is much like the ratio of people who miss trust the media vs those who really trust the media. Like I said I have lots of company.

Like I said. Good surveying is hard. This ain’t it.

 

[maximizese]

Your own bias is showing if you’re answering a survey stating you can get an average of 335 miles from a full Plaid battery. Yeah right.

Regarding CR: an obvious and apparent logistical error in a survey is not bias.

That was my first instinct too. I built surveys and questionnaires while in undergrad and the forms are often preset to capture only double-digit responses or a radio button would be placed with a broader range. It seems more like an error than a nefarious plot.

 

[AMPd]

How exactly is this biased against Tesla? You do realize Tesla is not the only automaker selling ev’s with more than 100 miles of range right?

 

[Yelobird]

Your own bias is showing if you’re answering a survey stating you can get an average of 335 miles from a full Plaid battery. Yeah right.

Regarding CR: an obvious and apparent logistical error in a survey is not bias.

Lol you’re kidding right??? The Primary ConSomeMore reports financial contributors are Ford and GM! It’s even on their website. You don’t think they are Swayed by 50% of their funding when doing reviews and surveys?? Lol. Come on.

 

[ucmndd]

How exactly is this biased against Tesla? You do realize Tesla is not the only automaker selling ev’s with more than 100 miles of range right?

Bro. They didn’t even reply to his email. Obvious TSLAQs.

 

[ucmndd]

Lol you’re kidding right??? The Primary ConSomeMore reports financial contributors are Ford and GM! It’s even on their website. You don’t think they are Swayed by 50% of their funding when doing reviews and surveys?? Lol. Come on.

This is veering into even stupider territory than the original post in this thread, but I’d happily entertain any evidence you have that “50%” of CR’s funding comes from Ford and GM.

BTW: If Ford and GM are secretly bankrolling more than half of CR’s operating expenses in your bizarro fantasy world, they’re getting a pretty terrible return on their investment.

Which Car Brands Make the Best Vehicles? - Consumer Reports

CR tells you which car brands make the best vehicles based on Overall Score, factoring in average road-test score, reliability, owner satisfaction, and safety.

www.consumerreports.org

 

[Yelobird]

This is veering into even stupider territory than the original post in this thread, but I’d happily entertain any evidence you have that “50%” of CR’s funding comes from Ford and GM.

BTW: If Ford and GM are secretly bankrolling more than half of CR’s operating expenses in your bizarro fantasy world, they’re getting a pretty terrible return on their investment.

Which Car Brands Make the Best Vehicles? - Consumer Reports

CR tells you which car brands make the best vehicles based on Overall Score, factoring in average road-test score, reliability, owner satisfaction, and safety.

www.consumerreports.org

Try reading their Philanthropic Partners page. Not really “fantasy“ and certainly biased.

 

[ucmndd]

Try reading their Philanthropic Partners page. Not really “fantasy“ and certainly biased.

I see a “$100k+” donation from the Ford foundation, which is fully and completely financially and operationally separate from the Ford Motor Company and has been for 50+ years.

I see no obvious donations from General Motors or related parties but I don’t know the names of many of their execs or any associated foundations.

You’ve made the claim that “50%” of CR’s operating revenue is provided by this “$100k+” donation and any others somehow attributable to GM, which is - yes - pure fantasy.

And again: Ford’s brands are #16 and #22 on the ranking list of 32 brands. If they’re buying influence, they’re doing a pretty terrible job at it.

The real numbers:
$233m revenue in 2022 from subscriptions and magazine sales.
$33m in revenue in 2022 from contributions and donations.

I’m not the best at math but I don’t think one of those numbers is 50% of the other.

Financial Report | Consumer Reports Annual Report 2022

The financial information in this report is derived from the audited financial statements.

www.consumerreports.org

 

[ucmndd]

Using your own math and consumption figure: if your plaid has 100kwh of usable capacity (it doesn’t), 310 wh/mi provides a HYPOTHETICAL max range of 310 miles.

I must self-correct and admit to a math mistake here. 310wh/mi is a hypothetical ~322 miles on a 100kwh usable battery, not 310.

The rest of my points still generally stand.

 

[CBGPE]

How exactly is this biased against Tesla? You do realize Tesla is not the only automaker selling ev’s with more than 100 miles of range right?

The FIRST part of the survey was the make, model and year of my vehicles. 2020 Model X long range & 2021 Model S Plaid So I think it is fair to assume that they knew it was Tesla cars

 

[CBGPE]

I must self-correct and admit to a math mistake here. 310wh/mi is a hypothetical ~322 miles on a 100kwh usable battery, not 310.

The rest of my points still generally stand.

Went out to Mothers Day dinner. County driving AC on 12 miles 3 kWh 278 watts/mile round trip 30-40 mph speeds

 

[ucmndd]

Went out to Mothers Day dinner. County driving AC on 12 miles 3 kWh 278 watts/mile round trip 30-40 mph speeds

It’s not hard to exceed rated range at 35 mph. Congrats.

Representing that as the “average” experience in a survey and claiming you can go 335 miles to a charge is not honest.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

That was my first instinct too. I built surveys and questionnaires while in undergrad and the forms are often preset to capture only double-digit responses or a radio button would be placed with a broader range. It seems more like an error than a nefarious plot.

Hanlon's razor - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[maximizese]

Hanlon's razor - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Thank you for this. Didn't know someone coined the occurrence/tendency in a philosophical principle. I was only aware of Occam's razor and didn't realize there were others.