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 Overall, very positive, but:
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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?).
Great article. Reaches farther and wider and with a more convincing voice than any article yet. Right place. Right time.
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...
At least for me it works to just clear all browsing data or use NYTimes in incognito/private mode to bypass the limit
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: 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.