Recreating the NY Times Road Trip - Feb 15-17, 2013

[EVNow]

Elon himself said he had nothing against the NY Times, just this particular story.

Many NYT journos tweeted in support of Broder.

This is going to leave a bitter taste for some time to come.

 

[HansK]

"Maybe Broder forgets to feed himself when he's hungry." says my wife matter-of-factly. Delusions from hunger--that would explain a lot.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

Man it's so dark over there. Where's the super charger? I can't find it ...

Yeah, that parking lot is _so_ unlit. Like, no lights there at all. Can't see a thing.

 

[Citizen-T]

Yeah, that parking lot is _so_ unlit. Like, no lights there at all. Can't see a thing.

Cross-post but thought it was appropriate:

 

[AndreN]

This will probably get lost in all the posts, but a big thank you to everyone who took part in this! If there's any justice in the world, and anyone at the NYT who is reasonably unbiased, they need to publicly distance themselves from Broder and retract the story. This journey has proven in several ways that he didn't do an unbiased story but instead went out of his way to try to make the Model S fail (and even at that it took him several tries). What a bonehead.

 

[dflye]

What a bonehead.

I think that is the most succinct and family-friendly biography of Mr. Broder that I've heard to date.

 

[ntam]

If the Model S can sing to itself, this would be the tune that it was singing when Broder was drivng it (based on Madonna's Borderline):

Something in the way you charge me won’t let me be
I don’t want to be your scapegoat so Broder won’t you charge me full
Stop playing with the heat
Finish what you start
When you make my battery low
If you charge me make it full
Better range will show
Model S don’t fool around
Just try to understand, I’ve given all I can
Cause you got the best EV

Chorus

"Broderlie", feels like I am going to get stranded
You just keep on pushing my battery over the borderline

 

[SFOTurtle]

Now what excuse will the editor of the NYT come up with to defend this lie?

Yeah, that parking lot is _so_ unlit. Like, no lights there at all. Can't see a thing.

 

[dflye]

Now what excuse will the editor of the NYT come up with to defend this lie?

That he is chromatically obtuse?
That he was driving at night wearing sunglasses like any proper person from the Blues Brothers would?
That he was instead looking for a gorilla? Even Broder Could See This

 

[firstinflite]

Yeah, that parking lot is _so_ unlit. Like, no lights there at all. Can't see a thing.

LOL, BS = Broder S**t

 

[UMD86]

LOL, BS = Broder S**t

All of the drivers should EMAIL Broder and give him their RESULTS!!!

 

[rlpm]

I guess Aaron is cranking the heat. I'm so glad I decided to add the climate telemetry to the tweet stream.

BTW, did anyone notice my different adjectives for the interior climate? They include "comfortable", "cozy", and "warm". Free reputation point to the first person to figure out the temperature ranges I use for each adjective.

Awesome tweet telemetry, PureAmps!

No adjective: < 66°F (range seen: 56.3 - 65.3)
Comfortable: 66°F - 71.9°F (range seen: 66.2 - 71.6)
Cozy: 72°F - 77.9°F (range seen: 72.5 - 77.9)
Warm: 78°F & above (range seen: 78.8 - 83.3)

 

[Raffy.Roma]

On the contrary I think that Broder made a good thing to Tesla because his lies, that are going to be easily proved to be lies, are making a good advertisment to Tesla.

 

[dflye]

On the contrary I think that Broder made a good thing to Tesla because his lies, that are going to be easily proved to be lies, are making a good advertisment to Tesla.

I think the jury is still out on whether he is an outright liar versus an absolute moron.

Either way, he shouldn't be a journalist, he should (and has!) write fiction.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

I think the jury is still out on whether he is an outright liar versus an absolute moron.

Either way, he shouldn't be a journalist, he should (and has!) write fiction.

In my opinion Broder interprets the skepticism towards electric cars that is very common in people. I think that the TMC forum and the initiative of recreating the NY Times road trip are very good to win the struggle with people who are skeptical towards electric cars.

And eventually maybe that Broder will start writing fiction. ;-)

 

[PureAmps]

Awesome tweet telemetry, PureAmps!

No adjective: < 66°F (range seen: 56.3 - 65.3)
Comfortable: 66°F - 71.9°F (range seen: 66.2 - 71.6)
Cozy: 72°F - 77.9°F (range seen: 72.5 - 77.9)
Warm: 78°F & above (range seen: 78.8 - 83.3)

Congratulations, we have a winner!

 

[CapitalistOppressor]

I think the jury is still out on whether he is an outright liar versus an absolute moron.

Either way, he shouldn't be a journalist, he should (and has!) write fiction.

That's pretty much my view. For me the key issue that crystallizes the issue for me is how Broder obscured the fact that he didn't inform his readers that he had not fully charged the vehicle.. I made that point in a comment on her blog after she said she didn't think anything was intentionally faked. Here's what I wrote -

"I reject Mr. Musk’s central contention that Mr. Broder’s Sunday piece was faked"

Fine. But it's important to recognize why Musk chooses to interpret ambiguous data to mean malicious intent.

Broder uses legalistic language to obscure the simple fact that he only charged the car to 90% at the first SuperCharger.

"After 49 minutes, the display read “charge complete,” and the estimated available driving distance was 242 miles."

No mention that the "completed charge" was a Standard charge intended for regular use instead of the Range charge intended for roadtrips. And the "rated" range is not the estimated driving distance. Its just the range based on EPA testing conditions. Projected range is a different screen and can be calculated using the most recent usage (last 5 miles, last 30, etc).

The entire white knuckle, cold feet odyssey he describes on the way to Milford is written lacking that critical context. The language used was willful and intended to deceive your readers. An honest article would have stated in plain language "I charged to 90%" to provide the proper context. Why wouldn't Tesla interpret subsequent events in the worst possible light?

I made that point as well in an e-mail to her before she took up the issue (along with diving into the weeds on a host of other issues). But the most provable charge out of all of them is that he intentionally misinformed his readers about the state of charge on that first leg. It took a close reading of that article with knowledge that only owners and enthusiasts would have to figure out that he didn't fully charge it on the first leg. He might have just been a moron, but he worked hard to conceal that from his readers, and at the least his actions merit suspicion.

 

[FalconNinetyD]

Yeah, that parking lot is _so_ unlit. Like, no lights there at all. Can't see a thing.

Are you sh*tting me? This video is the mosy damning piece of evidence yet that this "writer" was not being honest. He had to drive around in circles because he couldn't see this brightly lit charging station??? Unless there were flashing red neon signs saying "SUPERCHARGER", I don't know how much clearer it could be!

I'm sure he'll cover up his previous lies with another one, saying Tesla must of come out on Saturday morning to install those bright lights...

 

[rlpm]

Congratulations, we have a winner!

Ooh ooh, what do I win?!
<voice="Bob Barker">A new car!</voice>
Well, in three to five weeks, anyway. And I'll have to pay for it.
But I've heard a couple of people on these forums say it's a pretty good car, I guess.
:biggrin:

Again, serious props for hooking up your @PureAmps and @TeslaRoadTrip guys' cars' telemetry on twitter. That's just kewl.

And to the @TeslaRoadTrip drivers, shotgunners, etc., who are now in Groton!
Excellent! Rest up, you deserve it!

 

[teslasguy]

Can't get to sleep. Too 'amped up'! Really cold and snow blowing like Crazy here in Conn but cars handled like a dream!


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