NYT article: Stalled on the EV Highway

[dsm363]

Tesla needs to find an independent auditor that is agreed to by both Tesla and the Times to look and the data and make a judgement on what the data shows and if it has been altered in any way.

 

[rlawson4]

It a load of crap. I have almost 5000 miles. I drive anywhere from 40 miles in a day to 220. I have done 220 on a regular charge a few times. I also have driven 160 miles in a morning and come home for a long lunch adding 45 miles over 90 minutes and then have driven another 80-90 miles. The NYT reporter is either an idiot who cannot read a gauge or has an agenda. Interestingly, he may simply be an idiot. I have managed to drive almost 5000 miles and have not needed to call customer support.

 

[stevezzzz]

John Broder's backfilling would sound plausible to anyone but a Model S owner. The holes in his story are apparent to those of us who actually drive the car, but that is a tiny fraction of the people who will read some portion of this he said/she said clash and wonder where the truth lies. His editors are not among that fraction, so I suspect we will be dissatisfied with the NYT's official position when this is over.

 

[Liz G]

Broder also doesn't explain the " I was driving at 45 MPH ".... Instead he blames it on the tires ?

"I cannot account for the discrepancy, nor for a later stretch in Connecticut where I recall driving about 45 m.p.h., but it may be the result of the car being delivered with 19-inch wheels and all-season tires, not the specified 21-inch wheels and summer tires. That just might have impacted the recorded speed, range, rate of battery depletion or any number of other parameters"

Honestly Officer I didn't realize I was speeding. I thought the sign was in kilometers per hour.

 

[dsm363]

John Broder's backfilling would sound plausible to anyone but a Model S owner. The holes in his story are apparent to those of us who actually drive the car, but that is a tiny fraction of the people who will read some portion of this he said/she said clash and wonder where the truth lies. His editors are not among that fraction, so I suspect we will be dissatisfied with the NYT's official position when this is over.

That's my guess too. Unless there is absolute proof (video of him driving around in a circle for 20 min trying to run the battery down) or other evidence, it's his word against Tesla's (even with the log data to show what he did was stupid).

 

[Norbert]

His excuses are better than expected, but not good enough. Which re-affirms the key accusations. Certainly the article must be retracted.

 

[William13]

The size of the wheel and tire is not material to Broder's reported speed on the dash as that would be exactly the same in the car log. Tesla is not using GPS data to calculate speed and Broder never reports that he calibrated his "real" speed,

 

[ggies07]

This whole incident is quite interesting and the response from Elon and in this thread are exactly what I would have expected. But it does illustrate to me something else...

Elon builds this great electric car, one that he says will do anything a gasoline car will do, which he says asks no compromises of its owner/driver. Oh, but here are all the things you need to remember about using it, and a few things you should avoid...

You give a person a device that looks like a car and performs like a car, and then you tell them to use it just like a car, you can't really act surprised when they do. Especially when you arranged the test. In the Real World, people drive cars 75 mph (here in the Chicago area, it's 80 or you should just stay on the surface streets). They drive when it's really cold. And they don't always remember or have time to "fill up" all the way.

Tesla seems to want to put the onus on people to learn how to use their product, to fit their needs around the way the car works. I'm not sure that flies with some people, especially when you call them out publicly to tell them they didn't know what they were doing.

My iPhone is the most fantastic bit of engineering I've ever had the pleasure of using. It asks nothing of me other than to plug it in when the little battery icon is running low. I can do that while I sleep, or even while I drive. I never have to worry about it. It will do anything a corded phone will do, with the added features of a corded computer, and it does those things better than either in most cases.

As great as the Model S is, it's not quite that revolutionary EV that everyone's hoping for, because the general public will still see the adjustments they have to make in their usual way of doing things to accomodate it. This article just adds fuel to that fire, and we can argue here ad infinitum the fairness of this or that point or statement. What we can't argue that making the drive required the use of the supercharger network twice, which was the test. And his point is, doing so took a lot more knowledge and effort than he expected for the seamless, carefree, typical gasoline car (or iPhone-like, if you will) operation that Elon promised.

It's possible that EV's won't hit it big until someone builds one that you can literally drive until you're too tired to do so, and then fully recharge while you sleep. Or at the very least recharge in the typical 10-15 minute fuel/food/pee stop that people are used to now.

Every first new invention has it's limits. The Model S is the first of the EVs to really do something like an ICE. You can't expect it to do EVERYTHING within the first generation. And you can't "hit big" without creating a first of whatever. It takes time. People said 60 miles was not enough for the LEAF, then the Model S came out and now you are saying 265 miles is not enough? Well, we will get to the place of "driving until you are too tired" but it will take time.

 

[cinergi]

+1

I was amazed at how accurate the Roadster CC is. The Ampera is pretty precise too.

Again, he's appealing to the ICE crowd with this one and I call BS.

Unless his regen was too weak/disabled during this supposed downhill stretch.

 

[quartzav]

So then why not just stick to that? As I noted earlier, Tesla's childish antics are really damaging. That whole line about driving in circles to kill the battery. Are you freaking kidding me? Guess, what, I did THAT EXACT SAME THING trying to locate the Gilroy Supercharger. I drove through the parking lot 3 times trying to find it. At the time I had plenty of charge and just wanted to try it out (and needed to pee) but if I had been low on charge it would have been quite distressing. There is no signage; no way to find the thing. The Tesla website just gives the address of the outlet mall which is not a small place. They should add "Behind the Sony(TM) store" or something. I've never been to Milford but have to say that the reporter's response that he was circling while trying to find the supercharger is quite plausible.

Partially agree with the possibility. Assuming the complete circle of the entire perimeter by Google map measurement tool showed 4 circles. Unless they have data showed he ran in tiny circle of the parking lot, which would have been around 20 circles. Regardless, charge time wasted can't be ignored..

 

[rolosrevenge]

I love his whole 'I don't know how to account for the fact that the logs say I was going faster than I said I did.'

 

[Beavis]

He is simply trying to save his credibility. Seriously, Tesla told me to? First, I doubt Tesla told him to leave a charging station with less range than he needed to get to his destination. Second, if Tesla told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it? As if anyone with a brain would leave that charging station when he did.

 

[Norbert]

Does he actually say he purposefully slowed down and re-accelerated, or is that just me?

 

[JRP3]

He claims to have been told to do so by Tesla.

 

[CapitalistOppressor]

The size of the wheel and tire is not material to Broder's reported speed on the dash as that would be exactly the same in the car log. Tesla is not using GPS data to calculate speed and Broder never reports that he calibrated his "real" speed,

Hmm. The logs might be raw engineering data (RPM's) as opposed to what the speedo was reporting.

 

[yobigd20]

I'm tired of this. The car is awesome. Fast. Quiet. Innovative. Sexy.

99.9% of people that want the car probably drive less than 100 miles in a single day 364 days out of the year anyway. So this whole rant is just ridiculous. The one day that you will drive multi-inter-state cross country (or perhaps two on leap year) and don't feel like using the nation wide superchargers that will be 100 miles apart from each other by then, then use your spouse's car or go rent a compact car. I put my money down that you will hate driving any other car so much after being in the Tesla you'll probably turn around, return the rental, and use the Tesla and supercharger network.

And while we're on the topic of chargers, Mayor Bloomberg said today that he wants 10,000 in NYC alone for all us electric car drivers http://www.businessinsider.com/bloomberg-wants-10000-ev-charging-spots-by-2020-2013-2

 

[Norbert]

He claims to have been told to do so by Tesla.

Yep. And somehow that all works perfectly towards a singular direction.

 

[mattjs33]

Every first new invention has it's limits. The Model S is the first of the EVs to really do something like an ICE. You can't expect it to do EVERYTHING within the first generation. And you can't "hit big" without creating a first of whatever. It takes time. People said 60 miles was not enough for the LEAF, then the Model S came out and now you are saying 265 miles is not enough? Well, we will get to the place of "driving until you are too tired" but it will take time.

I agree, and I believe so, yes. But then everyone, including Elon, needs to relax a little.

 

[smorgasbord]

This is the best response yet: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2013/02/14/inspired-by-nyt-tesla-test-here-are-my-consumer-trials-of-some-products/

But still, after reading the review and the backlash and the apparent statistics from inside the car, I feel confident that I, too, can become a consumer reviewer! Here are just a few items I have tried.
...
iPhone: They say you can reach the Internet with this thing and take pictures, but as far as I can tell it’s just a shiny black rectangle that you can use as a mirror if you have enough back-lighting. There are some buttons on it, but they don’t really do anything. Weird white cord thing included with prongs on one end — possibly a cat toy of some kind? Tried to find a cat to verify but couldn’t. Would have called Apple but couldn’t get phone to turn on. Threw it at something. Screen breaks easily. Would not recommend.

 

[dadaleus]

From the CNN drive team that JUST reached the final supercharger with range to spare: