EV Rags are Needed

[vfx]

Was looking at the magazine rack and was thinking about the Roadster’s pending appearance in ink. Late this month or next the usual gang of car rags get their ‘first looks” at a VP prototype that will blow away 98 percent of the cars that they have ever driven. I remain hopeful they will speak well of the car’s features and abilities but at the same time I am afeard of a negative review simply because among other things, the car does not sport a skin-shaking deafening exploded fuel-belching engine.

Does “not shifting” take away the feeling of driving? Does regen make one loose the on edge feel of standard braking? Can hearing your seatmate at speed destroy the required torture of going fast?

If they are smart they should jump on this newly powered contender bandwagon and separate themselves into two entities. They would come out with EV versions of their magazines like ‘’Electric Car and Driver”, “Road and Track for Evs”, and “E-Motor Trend”. Even if Evs hold a nitch market of like The Mac that is a big audience compared to “Curlers World Monthly”.

With the Tesla Roadster’s high profile debut the other ongoing E sports cars have come into new light and of course Tesla’s visibility has already caused the launch of a dozen or so other high performance E cars as well. The revolution is beginning. As far as I know there are no print EV racing/sport/road magazines on the shelves. It will happen soon and I’m betting on at least one special magazine on Tesla when it comes out. These major Publishers have the power and distribution connections to make it happen quickly and they should before the get usurped by some little guy.

 

[AGR]

Print automotive publications are on the same path as vehicles with ICE motors.

The Tesla Roadster has already experienced an incredible amount of coverage in a variety of media, not just automotive. To make cars available for road tests to the automotive media / pundits / bloggers is the next step in the process.

Tesla's claims and statements will all be verified and commented on by the various folks who get to drive and experience the car. The presentation that Tesla will give to the automitive press will influence to comments and remarks that will be made. Its also a practive of the automotive media not to KILL a vehicle on the "first blush" look.

If Tesla starts comparing a Roadster to an F430, they will open a door for a myriad of comments which are irrelevent to what the Roadster is all about. What Tesla will show on the Powerpoint and handouts is important.

Comments like "will blow away 98% of cars they have driven" is an open invitation to get adversarial and receive adversarial comments. In the automotive media there are folks that have been there for many years with excellent knowledge, credibility, and experience.

 

[malcolm]

A common trick amongst all car makers is to offer a particular model with a certain engine and other features to sweeten the review. Tesla could simply download a "sportier" set of algorithms into the PEM. For example, they might reduce the amount of regen if they felt that would be appropriate for die-hard pistonhead reviewers.

 

[WarpedOne]

I think the safe way of going would be just not to compare to other cars. Speak of what this car is and not about how it is better than XYZ car. Make a (short) list of strong points and talk about them all the time. Make also a short list of basic differences (shortcomings) to ICE sport cars and explain why you (Tesla Motors) feel they are less important or how they should be look at.

 

[tonybelding]

Here's an EV Rag. . .

http://www.electrifyingtimes.com/

I haven't seen a print version of the magazine, I've only looked over their website. I don't feel compelled to subscribe. It looks like an EV-oriented version of the National Enquirer. A "rag" indeed. The article on the Electric Freemobile Silver Lightning is pretty funny, at least:

http://www.electrifyingtimes.com/Electric_Freemobile/silver_lightning.html

Even if somebody made a more professional sort of EV magazine, I'm not optimistic that it would do well. Print is dying. Web-based magazines like Winding Road are probably the future of automotive journalism. In the EV space we already have online resources such as EV World, Green Car Congress, and AutoblogGreen.

http://www.windingroad.com
http://www.evworld.com
http://www.greencarcongress.com
http://www.autobloggreen.com

 

[vfx]

There was one:

Electric Vehicle News:

Menioned here: Steve Rosenbaum: I Killed The Electric Car

He's not hip with Tesla..

 

[JRP3]

Print automotive publications are on the same path as vehicles with ICE motors.

Exactly. In a struggling economy with rising production and transportation costs starting up a print mag seems like a bad idea. Especially one with so few actual vehicles in production. Will every month be a review of the Tesla?
The web has so much more timely and interactive material available.

 

[vfx]

Will every month be a review of the Tesla?

Pretty much. :smile:

Most magazines come back to the same articles every 18 months or so. Every issue has editorials, staff writings, and monthly "As I see it" columns. The rest is just pages on coming products, arrived products, product pre-reviews, product reviews and extended product test reviews.

There is plenty of content on Autobloggreen, Green Car Congress, Treehugger, etc, to fill 12 months worth especially if you throw in some backyard street car conversions like Home Power magazine does for Energy (a favorite of mine).

You are right about the immediacy and interaction, and selection depth of the web but traditional magazines have not gone away. They roll up, don't need batteries and go well in bathrooms and airplanes.

Photography never killed paintings, TV did not kill Movies or radio. Things get rearranged. There are something like 10,00 new magazines introduced every year. Why not EV Times?

See 2:25 -The end of "We've Got You Covered"
We've Got You Covered 8.07.08 // Current

 

[JRP3]

There is plenty of content on Autobloggreen, Green Car Congress, Treehugger, ...

Exactly, and since it's already available for free, immediately, on the web, why would anyone pay for the same information months later?

You are right about the immediacy and interaction, and selection depth of the web but traditional magazines have not gone away. They roll up, don't need batteries and go well in bathrooms and airplanes.

My laptop goes with me into the bathroom quite regularly. As do web capable cell phones and pdas.

Photography never killed paintings, TV did not kill Movies or radio.

No, but few people go to art galleries and more people watch movies at home.

There are something like 10,00 new magazines introduced every year. Why not EV Times?

How many of them fail? I just know that personally I am reducing my magazine subscriptions since I can get more information faster and cheaper on the internet. I also have a problem with the inefficiencies of manufacturing and shipping a physical product when it's just not necessary. I'm sure at some point there will be an EV Times and it might succeed, but I'll already know all the information in it before it ever hits the stands.

 

[vfx]

Cars of the Future Magazine 60s Scans on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[JRP3]

I'd love to see that bubble top Corvette as an EV.

 

[vfx]

Three years from my original thread post I think this one might be it. (but it's not US)

http://ukipmemail.com/interface/external_view_email.php?B91297454947206274441142545258

 

[dpeilow]

That's an excellent find vfx - loads of interesting nuggets of info, free to read online and free to subscribe to. I signed up.

 

[dpeilow]

Just received my copies in the mail. I actually had a call from the publishers, they wanted to know that I was interested for bona-fide reasons. They don't just give this out to any old riffraff.

They sent me the July issue and the 2009 annual. A really high quality semi-hardback.

They've actually been going 16 years!

 

[JRP3]

I was a bit disappointed. Too many ads and too many articles on hybrids which
simply don't interest me.

 

[domenick]

Three years from my original thread post I think this one might be it. (but it's not US)

http://ukipmemail.com/interface/external_view_email.php?B91297454947206274441142545258

Totally lovin' it. I even like the ads and really really wish I could drop everything and read it now. Can't believe I never saw this before.

 

[CHARGED EVs Magazine]

There is a new "Rag" in town. You can see the preview, and subscribe :wink:, at ChargedEVs.com.

If anyone here is interested in joining our focus group, send me an email to [email protected] (subject: focus group), and I will send you a username and password to see a sneak peak of the first full issue. Our only requirement is that you answer a few questions about the content.

Cheers

--
Christian Ruoff
CHARGED Electric Vehicles Magazine

 

[dpeilow]

Plenty of interesting stuff this issue...

Electric Hybrid Vehicle Technology International

 

[dpeilow]

My January 2013 copy just came through the letterbox. Lots of good stuff in this month's issue.

Electric Hybrid Vehicle Technology International - January 2013

 

[dpeilow]

A really good issue this time.

Electric Hybrid Vehicle Technology International - January 2014