NY Times: One Big Step for Tesla, One Giant Leap for E.V.’s

[smorgasbord]

The "Sunday" article is out: One Big Step for Tesla, One Giant Leap for E.V.’s

Author got 300.1 miles on a single charge

No single new model can overhaul the auto industry, but the Model S, along with its charging network for long-distance travel, suggests that Tesla is playing for keeps.

Overall, very positive, but:

Yet Tesla sometimes takes its urge to reinvent too far. When parked, the outside door handles completely recede into the body. This makes opening the door a multistep process, and it can take two or three attempts before working. Other design imperfections include an artsy visor that’s too small to block the sun and mirrors made of fun-house plastic rather than, well, glass. And the trade-off for industry-leading aerodynamics is limited rear visibility.

More nitpicks: the lighting in the back seat is too dim; there are no parking sensors or guidelines on the backup-camera image to help guide you; the grip you’d use to close a front door is poorly positioned — it looks good but doesn’t help much; and there are no overhead handles to grip while speeding through a turn.

Will these issues cost Tesla a single customer? Probably not.

 

[tdelta1000]

I thought it was clear and concise. Yes the Model S has its problems but it's still a winner.

 

[Arnold Panz]

I thought it was clear and concise. Yes the Model S has its problems but it's still a winner.

Right. No car is perfect, but these issues are minor in the grand scheme of things. I thought it was a really well done review, which I'd expect from Berman, and which Elon clearly expected because he gave him the car for a week.

Is this the first "big" extended review that didn't use Elon's car or a Performance model? I'm impressed they gave home a regular 85 kWh car, although he may have requested it.

 

[Cattledog]

It's a really strong review from the second major NY paper (calling WSJ an NY paper). I particularly liked:

Put simply, the automobile has not undergone a fundamental change in design or use since Henry Ford rolled out the Model T more than a century ago. At least that’s what I thought until I spent a week with the Tesla Model S.

I appreciate hybrids, but it was time for someone to just say no to incrementalism. Thanks Tesla.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh and also:

If the Model S is Aston Martin on the outside, it’s Apple on the inside.

Easy to just expect this and lose sight of how remarkable a comment that is. Someone please show me where there's something written like that for any BMW, Lexus (the two cars we own, so playing fair here) or Jaguar any time in the last 20 years...

And finally:

I just hauled amps.

That's what I'm talkin' about...

 

[KBF]

Good article. But this guy actually drove it for a week, what do you expect? His criticisms are valid, although the only one Tesla can't fix via software or a simple parts swap would be rear visibility. Hopefully more intelligent writers can experience the Tesla and spread real info like this.

 

[strangethingintheland]

The "Sunday" article is out: One Big Step for Tesla, One Giant Leap for E.V.’s

Charging Ahead on an Electric Highway - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It's the same author, tho' I grabbed the version printed in another paper to avoid the 10 article limit at nytimes.com


I thought this companion article was "the" Sunday article Elon alluded to, as it specifically focuses on the Superchargers. Either way, the two together come across very positively.

 

[bmek]

Right. No car is perfect, but these issues are minor in the grand scheme of things. I thought it was a really well done review, which I'd expect from Berman, and which Elon clearly expected because he gave him the car for a week.

Is this the first "big" extended review that didn't use Elon's car or a Performance model? I'm impressed they gave home a regular 85 kWh car, although he may have requested it.

Good article. But this guy actually drove it for a week, what do you expect? His criticisms are valid, although the only one Tesla can't fix via software or a simple parts swap would be rear visibility. Hopefully more intelligent writers can experience the Tesla and spread real info like this.

I enjoyed the article; it was a practical review of the car. It's nice they squeaked out 300.1 miles! The nit picking was exactly that -- nit picking. Comparing the car to Aston Martin and Apple and with the overall suggestion that the Model S revolutionizes the auto industry, I don't see how this article could be taken in any way other than positive!

Brad Berman, who wrote the article, has been around electric vehicles for years. He has PlugInCars.com and started HybridCars.com in 2003.

I met Brad last year as he needed to charge his Nissan Leaf and we have a charging station. He was able to drive to a meeting in Los Gatos, charge his Leaf during the meeting, and then return to Berkeley.

Brad knows EVs and the EV industry so his article is extremely accurate and unbiased. Some nit picking and he dismisses the nit picking himself. Importantly, Brad passed the magic '300' miles by 0.1 as he knows that range is a significant barrier for potential buyers and 300 miles is a critical threshold for range.

 

[dpeilow]

Follow up: Charging Ahead on an Electric Highway

NEW ORDER Charging the Tesla’s battery at the Harris Ranch Supercharger station near Coalinga, Calif., took less time than a leisurely lunch stop.


Surprised there is only 1 bay at Harris Ranch, which is obviously a linchpin site.

If you add up the driving time it comes to 8.5 hours. So he must have been charging for 3 hours total. Given that the last two stops were only to cover ~100 miles (so 30 minutes' charging) each then he must have been at Folsom for around 2 hours to get the 100% charge or there is well over an hour missing somewhere (lunch?).

 

[ModelS1079]

Great article. Reaches farther and wider and with a more convincing voice than any article yet. Right place. Right time.

 

[dmetcalf]

Got confirmation during my delivery yesterday that Tesla noted the rear seat light issue and replaced them out from my VIN (195) on. Pretty quick on-the fly fix. Seems good to me now...

 

[erha]

Charging Ahead on an Electric Highway - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

It's the same author, tho' I grabbed the version printed in another paper to avoid the 10 article limit at nytimes.com

At least for me it works to just clear all browsing data or use NYTimes in incognito/private mode to bypass the limit

 

[TEG]

...Surprised there is only 1 bay at Harris Ranch, which is obviously a linchpin site.

If you add up the driving time it comes to 8.5 hours. So he must have been charging for 3 hours total. Given that the last two stops were only to cover ~100 miles (so 30 minutes' charging) each then he must have been at Folsom for around 2 hours to get the 100% charge or there is well over an hour missing somewhere (lunch?)...

I think we ended up covering that here:
Inside Scoop on Tesla’s Super-Smart Supercharger Network

Comments on the ~1 hour 'plateau' (not charging, not driving) at Harris Ranch:

He says in the NYT article that he had to move his car at lunch to allow another company Model S to charge. That explains the hour of flat SOC....
It does reaffirm that Harris Ranch needs more than 1 bay.

He said that he had stopped for a charge and had received more than enough to allow him to reach his destination before his lunch had arrived so he went out to move his car so that someone else that needed it could use it. Another person in his caravan. Nice thing to do.

So, yeah - if they had two Superchargers at Harris ranch they might have been able to cut an hour off of the total trip time.

 

[dpeilow]

We did but I posted that before Brad's more technical article came out.

 

[TEG]

We did but I posted that before Brad's more technical article came out.

Yes, I know. Just clarifying now that we got more details.