NYT article: Stalled on the EV Highway

[vfx]

How about attention? Yet another positive article won't do it, so...

Pretty much what Elon said in the Fox Business interview. "...More clicks.."


(welcome Haid!)

 

[nrcooled]

GCR
[UPDATE: As of 9:45 am Thursday, it appears that The New York Times is preparing a response to the Tesla post. What form that will take--whether it's merely an update to Broder's Tuesday blog post, or something more substantial--remains to be seen.]

I read that too and I am eagerly awaiting the response.

 

[bluetinc]

Hey VFX,

If you look at the graph just above the one you linked, you will see that at 400 miles the SOC went from about 35 to 30 (ish).

Peter

Can you expound on this?

Then can you briefly state your case?

It appears at the 400 that there is a 90 to 20 drop.

 

[lolachampcar]

Let's see if the NYT bucks up with an apology and Broder gets a job with FOX.

 

[carrerascott]

I read that too and I am eagerly awaiting the response.

"We plead the fifth."

 

[Iz]

Tesla's Elon Musk NY Times: Disturbing Discrepancies On Model S Range Reporting

And within two decades, consumers will understand that driving electric cars is a better experience than exploding air mixed with refined dead dinosaurs in increasingly complex engines.

 

[Todd Burch]

Look at both the state-of charge chart, and the rated-range chart. The first is surely more the actual charge (not visible in the UI), while the second is the display value for rated range.

Right Norbert, I was agreeing with you .

 

[ToddRLockwood]

Hard to argue with hard data. But that said, I think Tesla needs to consider the spacing between its Superchargers in cold climates. If they were located at 140 mile intervals, speed and cabin heat wouldn't matter.

The general public does not understand the concept of range. Most people have no idea how many miles they get out of a tank of gas, much less how that mileage is affected by speed, terrain and other factors. Driving an EV requires a different kind of thinking. Thanks to the NY Times article, people think the Model S is at fault, when it fact the car operated exactly as designed. It's going to take a while for the average person to make this transition, but eventually they will. Simple economics will provide the incentive.

 

[Jaff]

+1, well said Volker!

From the log data in Elon's blog response, it looks like Mr. Broder's pants could have kept the interior temp of the car quite toasty! :wink:

+1

How can someone be so stupid to assume he can get away with this? In an "iPad on wheels"? This was a great opportunity for Tesla to demonstrate how detailed their logs are. Revealing this information in this particular context doesn't leave a lot of room for critical voices (privacy concerns, trust in customers and journalists, etc.), and at the same time I'm pretty sure it won't happen again. By now, even the dumbest of journalists will have understood that you'd better not twist facts when it comes to Tesla's cars...

 

[Morristhecat]

I wonder if there is video footage from the rear view camera that tesla has, but hasn't released, which shows him doing donuts? That would be an ace up the sleeve yet!

 

[Mycroft]

Hard to argue with hard data. But that said, I think Tesla needs to consider the spacing between its Superchargers in cold climates. If they were located at 140 mile intervals, speed and cabin heat wouldn't matter.

Yes. Elon has already stated that their goal is to have stations around 150 miles apart. But you can't expect them to have them all installed instantaneously. What they've already installed will allow travel from DC to Boston if properly planned. Pretty darned awesome in my book.

 

[rlpm]

http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/most-peculiar-test-drive

Two words: oh, snap! :wink:

I hope the NYT fires Broder unceremoniously. Of course, I'm sure there are myriad other "news" outlets that would have him. But the editor will probably now claim that Tesla falsified the data logs. Tesla will need video or a witness of Broder driving in circles, or recordings of the phone calls. Recording an image from the backup camera every 30 seconds would be a good idea for subsequent "media" drives. It would take up space on the internal storage & cell data to send them back to Tesla, but would help in such cases of he said/she said.

As for the parking brake not disengaging, I think Broder was ignorant of (or perhaps specifically ignoring) the following note in A Quick Guide for Owners:

NOTE: If you use the touchscreen to release the parking brake when in P (Park), Model S automatically shifts into Neutral. However, when you exit Model S, it shifts into Park. To keep Model S in Neutral after exiting, power off Model S manually using the touchscreen.

Did he contact Tesla when the parking brake wouldn't disengage?

What a DB. Seriously.

 

[stevezzzz]

Hey, you know what? If I wanted to see what happens when the S runs out of juice I'd drive it in circles in the parking lot next to a supercharger, too. :wink:

But if that's what you're doing, you can't pretend as though the car let you down. Broder executed the trip in a way that guaranteed his eventual stranding, then dissembled in the article he wrote on the experience. He may believe in his heart of hearts that he didn't change any details that affected the 'truth' of the piece in any material way. But journalism is supposed to be distinct from editorializing, and what he wrote was an opinion piece published as a factual account.

Similarly, have you noticed how the third party reports about this kerfuffle keep mentioning Tesla's lawsuit against Top Gear over its infamous Roadster 'review', and that the suit was thrown out? But they seem never to mention that Top Gear got off by claiming that the program was entertainment, not news, so the basis of the suit was never argued on its merits.

 

[aznt1217]

wow Broder just got owned.

 

[Yuri_G]

Looks like the NYTs is going to fight this.

"One, the range was already at zero miles. Two, I was circling the parking lot in the service plaza looking for the unmarked and unlighted Supercharger port in the dark. I was not trying to drain the battery." He promised "a detailed rebuttal" soon on the Times' Wheels blog.

That's all well and good. I'm sure Broder will try to dance around the charging times, as well.

"As we have said previously, our story was fair and accurate," added Timesspokesperson Eileen Murphy. "We plan to post a more detailed response to Tesla's latest assertions after we have had an opportunity to review them in detail."

Fair is relative, but the article is far from accurate given the discrepancies in the log. It's unfortunate the Times isn't distancing itself from Broder, who is clearly biased.

Elon Musk, Times Tesla Not Letting Test Drive Go -- Daily Intelligencer

 

[allanb4me]

we need this to be in the news as much as possible.
EV need more and more converts. We also need to pressure local mayors and agencies and companies to set up charging for their their employees and general public.

 

[kishdude]

Hey VFX,

If you look at the graph just above the one you linked, you will see that at 400 miles the SOC went from about 35 to 30 (ish).

Peter

This is interesting in that the battery only lost a few percent of charge in the battery percentage graph, but the rated range remaining graph show a much larger loss. I think that this is because the rated range remaining graph takes into account he ambient temperature and battery temperature and since the car was colder was showing a much lower range.

 

[Bardlebee]

It's at the top of Reddit.com

That says a lot already.... so people who even idly browse it will see it. I don't know a single person who doesn't check out reddit daily.... though I am in my 20's so maybe that is different for different age brackets. I know reddit can be pretty pro-democratic and pro-electric cars in general.

 

[sp4rk]

I have a lot less credibility in any of Broder's articles; unless he lied for a reason. Maybe this was an attempt to make Tesla reveal what can be logged and tracked by the Model S. There must be a good reason why Broder would write such an article in the first place.

I think he was bought by big oil, (DOH) or The NYT was? Let's check bank accounts?

 

[onlinespending]

It's pretty clear this excuse for a journalist was on a personal crusade to smear the electric car and bring down the recent glory of Tesla. Good job Elon and Tesla for calling him out on his bull. If the NY Times cares about its reputation and integrity, it should publicly apologize for this and fire this hack.