Model S in The Times

[dpeilow]

When I saw this opinion piece in The Times last night, I was somewhat pleased as it seemed very positive:

Green Vroom -Times Online

The Model S electric saloon unveiled by Tesla Motors (see times2) is not only the future of driving, it's the future of tackling the menace of carbon-generated climate change. And stylish, too. It's the first mass-produced five-seater electric car that you can drive on to a motorway without the risk of distracting fellow motorists by provoking them to snigger helplessly. It can travel up to 300 miles on one charge (and its range will be limitless once petrol stations are replaced by ingenious depots offering quick-fit battery replacements). When the Model S rolls off the production line in 2011 it will cost from £39,000 in America. Its already launched stablemate, the two-seater Tesla Roadster, will soon go on sale here at £90,000.

However in the actual piece referred to, they had to go and spoil it by bringing up the whole Top Gear thing again.

Green cars:* will someone hit the accelerator

The article starts well enough, then basically bashes Tesla because Jeremy Clarkson didn't like the Roadster - before going on to argue the case for hybrids and/or buying second hand cars (because it would take a Prius 15000 miles to pay off its carbon debt). It has a dig at electric car proponents for ignoring the power plant CO2 issue, before doing so itself elsewhere and then saying this:

Nevertheless, if you had to choose the best method for extracting energy from fossilised hydrocarbons, then even a great belching coal power plant is more efficient than having each vehicle in the country carry around its own mini-petrol furnace. Electric cars win every time.

I don't think the writer knows where he stands...


It should be noted that neither of the 2 authors (confusingly) named on the article are motoring journalists or even technical journalists.


I'm not in the country, so I've asked someone to check how much space the Model S gets in the print version.

 

[mt2]

They also blew it with the following line.

Tesla is confident of negotiating a $350 million slice of Washington's green-tinted bailout package for the US car industry.

 

[dpeilow]

OK, so the print version got bought, scanned and emailed to me...

It's actually two articles, which helpfully their website staff have rolled into one with just a non-obvious subtitle to separate the two. The main piece was written by this guy.

Apart from that, the only difference is that there is a picture of the Model S next to its description.