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Fox news business reporter claims Model S only has 16 miles of range.

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This is hardly worthy of discussion.

When Tesla is a major player they will all conveniently forget that they were against it. They'll find some way to pat themselves on the back for it. "George Bush's forward-looking loan program vaulted Tesla into the big leagues." Or whatever.
 
No. Because Tesla is considered a "green" company by the Right. Therefore unworthy and doomed to failure. The government loan, even though it came from the Bush administration, allowed Tesla to be lumped in with everything "green."

The naysayers have changed their tactics since Tesla has paid off the loan. Now they are harping on the ZEV credits (which they imply is money from the government) and the $7500 tax credit (which they also think is money you get from the government). It's the best they've got and that's the new talking points concerning Tesla.

There is no reason to think that there is any principle or ideology driving any of this. They say whatever the oil companies pay them to say. Pretty soon they will electrocute an elephant to show how dangerous electricity is.
 
Why.
Why do people feel the need to lie and distort? Why do we allow this? Is this not slander? Libel? Whatever the tv equivalent is? Why do we allow the rich and powerful to insinuate their message into our government and media where they can reach the masses with lies, fear, and avoid facts and evidence?
 
It looks like there's been an update which makes things a little better. From thesite (at the end of the article):

"UPDATE (5/31/13):
Elizabeth MacDonald acknowledged Friday on Varney & Company that she "gave incomplete information" on the battery range of the Model S, noting that one hour of charging using a mobile connector will add 31 miles to the car's range, while the fully-charged 85 kw battery has a range of 300 miles."
 
I've learned over time that when stupidity can explain something, there is usually little value in looking further for an explanation. I think she was confusing some battery charging stat (i.e. at x amps for 30 minutes the battery recovers 16 miles of range). Stupid. Period.
 
I've learned over time that when stupidity can explain something, there is usually little value in looking further for an explanation. I think she was confusing some battery charging stat (i.e. at x amps for 30 minutes the battery recovers 16 miles of range). Stupid. Period.
Indeed. It makes for a more exciting thread to assume otherwise though.
 
The reporter is an idiot. Looks like she skimmed this article: http://www.marketintelligencecenter.com/articles/281549 and misunderstood it. On TV, she said the car "conks out after 1/2 hour usage, or 16 miles". Looks like she skimmed the article and completely missed what the article was saying. Her apology afterwards confirms she's a liar too, as she didn't own up to the mistake and tried to gloss it over by saying she "gave incomplete information". It wasn't incomplete, it was wrong.

Fox deserves a black eye for keeping her employed there, there is no excuse for her behavior.
 
I've learned over time that when stupidity can explain something, there is usually little value in looking further for an explanation.
While this is true - there is an underlying anti-EV attitude that makes it possible. If you don't like something, you are more likely to believe in the meanest things someone might say about it - or even misinterpret something in the most negative light (and feel happy about it !).

The underlying anti-EV attitude is indeed based on ideology. It all starts with the idea that "regulations are bad" or some variation of that. Since that is taken as the truth - any inconvenient fact that challenges that notion is fought tooth & nail - and people start holding positions which are absurd.
- Environmental conservation is bad
- EPA should be abolished
- EV tax credits are bad
- Climate Change is a hoax
- Obama is a socialist
etc.
 
I've learned over time that when stupidity can explain something, there is usually little value in looking further for an explanation. I think she was confusing some battery charging stat (i.e. at x amps for 30 minutes the battery recovers 16 miles of range). Stupid. Period.
Indeed. It makes for a more exciting thread to assume otherwise though.
And that it would happen to one of the good folks over at Fox News. I mean – what were the odds of that?

I've learned over time that when stupidity can explain something, there is usually little value in looking further for an explanation. /…/ Stupid. Period.

Personally I would go with uneducated/huge gaffe. Just because a person lacks a decent education, is plain wrong or makes a huge gaffe doesn’t necessarily make them stupid IMHO…

Another all too current example: A LOT of people STILL dismiss the science behind man made global warming (Which is backed by 97% of the scientists in the field, remember!). Unfortunately, given what’s at stake, many of these people are simply being misled on a tragic scale. And/or they just can’t accept that Al Gore could have been so right about something so important for so long. Or whatever… But many of these people are clearly not stupid.
 
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If someone like Tom Brokaw or another well respected journalist said a statement like this most people would chalk it up to bad research or simply sloppy work which would be out of character. When an entire network makes statements with this level of truthiness then you have to believe at some point it is intentional, especially when the 'apology' is so weak.
 
"[the Tesla Model S] ... conks out after 16 miles or about a half-hour of usage."

Another thing that grabbed my attention...basic elementary arithmetic says that "16 miles or a half-hour of usage" implies that the car has a top speed of 32 mph. Ignoring the blatant misrepresentation/lie of the Model S's range, this also jabs at the Model S's performance, something that Tesla has worked very hard on. A big part of what makes the Model S so special is that it drives like a car (and a fantastic one, at that), as opposed to having to make sacrifices in performance in order to achieve efficiency. Regardless of agenda, it seems to me that, if I were reporting a figure like that, the part of my brain that incorporates logic would say "16 miles or half-an-hour?? That figure doesn't seem to mesh with what other news agencies (motor trend, etc) are reporting, are we sure that is correct?". Without knowing the specifics about how this report came to be, we'll never know if it is truly an "incomplete account" or an intentional lie. As they say, however, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...