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NYT disses Tesla Model S, Musk fights back

posted 11 years ago by mickeyone
7 replies | jump to latest

On Feb 8, there was this article in New York Times on the Tesla Model S. Reporter JOHN M. BRODER test drove the Tesla from Washington D.C. up to Groton, Connecticut. Unfortunately, he had some problems: "Last month, a Washington-based reporter tried out Tesla's newly opened fast-charging stations on a trip up the East Coast. Driving a 2013 Model S with an 85-kilowatt-hour battery pack, which has an E.P.A. range rating of 265 miles, he topped off the battery at Tesla's Supercharger in Newark, Del. The car barely reached the next Supercharger, 206 miles away in Milford, Conn. The next day, in 10-degree weather, the car fell short of its projected range and had to be taken back to the Milford charging station on a flatbed truck."

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/automobiles/stalled-on-the-ev-highwa y.html?pagewanted=all

Now today, February 12, we have this article in the Washington Post:

Tesla’s Elon Musk slams New York Times review

In it, Elon Musk of Tesla claims that the New York Times reporter didn't follow correct procedures when he was carrying out his test of the Tesla.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/teslas-elon-musk-sla ms-new-york-times-review/2013/02/12/517c1ff2-7512-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d3110 6b_story.html

Now there is no question that many of the main stream medias have given electric cars bad reviews or at least tried to make them look bad. Is this another case of that? Does Musk have a legitimate claim here?

[–] apeweek 11 years ago

...Now there is no question that many of the main stream medias have given electric cars bad reviews or at least tried to make them look bad. Is this another case of that?

It appears to be so. The Times stands behind the article, and denies that the reporter was speeding or deviated from the approved course, but look at this timeline, from the Times own article:

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2013/02/10/automobiles/10tesla-map.h tml?ref=automobiles

Remember, this isn't Tesla's car logs, this is from the Times article. It shows that the first leg of the trip was 114 miles, and he drove it in 84 minutes. Some simple math shows that he had to have been averaging over 80 MPH.

No car will deliver it's rated MPG at such speeds, and electric cars won't deliver their stated ranges either. So for him to title this page "A Range Estimate that Misses it's Mark" is disingenuous. Especially since he made an agreement with Tesla to follow a set of driving rules for the test, which included not speeding.

The Times leadership that defended the article clearly didn't even read it, since this smoking gun is pretty readily apparent.

The biggest mistake, of course, was not plugging the car in overnight. The cold temperatures caused the car to lose driving range by morning. The graphic says there was no charging facility, but as an EV driver, I would have made some deal with my hotel for a 110v plug to use, so my car had some juice in the morning.

It's not Tesla's fault, or the car's fault, if a driver doesn't know how to operate an EV.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mickeyone 11 years ago

Here is John Broder's response to Musk and the rest of the Internet-based bruhaha:

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/the-charges-are-flying-over -a-test-of-teslas-charging-network/

[–] apeweek 11 years ago

...Here is John Broder's response to Musk and the rest of the Internet-based brouhaha:

His response indicates more ignorance about the car than ill will. I still see no explanation or acknowledgement for the apparent 80+ mph he drive the car for at least one leg of the journey. I'll be curious to see the actual log files from the car, if Tesla ever releases them.

I'll admit I would rather this was an "evil plot" rather than a series of simple mistakes. But the fact is that electric cars bring with them a few new rules that drivers need to learn.

[–] apeweek 11 years ago

Update on this story at the link. Headline says "New York Times Admits Tesla Writer Didn’t Exercise Good Judgement"

http://gas2.org/2013/02/26/new-york-times-admits-tesla-writer-didnt-ex ercise-good-judgement/

When CNN tested the Model S on the same route, here's what the driver wrote:

“Not only did I have enough battery range left, I had plenty. I had at least 40 miles — more than an entire Chevy Volt’s worth of electricity — left to play with. I sped up, cruising over 70, riding in the left lane, mashing the gas pedal just to feel how fast the car could shoot from 65 to 80. I was practically giddy.

In the end, I made it — and it wasn’t that hard.”

[–] apeweek 11 years ago

The story deepens. Today, Tesla responds with a variety of charts taken from the car's logs, exposing several apparent lies about how the car was supposedly driven and charged. Article here:

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

Also, a CNN journalist is currently live-Tweeting from his drive of the same route in a Tesla. He's having none of the problems, so far, that Broder did:

https://twitter.com/PeterDrives

It's looking increasingly like Broder did indeed set out to smear the car with some very inaccurate reporting.

[–] apeweek 11 years ago

Another update to this story: Now several test drives along the same route have been made. CNN, Consumer Reports, and a half-dozen other Tesla owners all duplicated Broder's drive (some even tried leaving the Tesla unplugged overnight, as Broder did.)

None experienced the problems the NYT reporter did. All were able to complete their trips.

Head-scratcher: here's a photo of the charging station, in the middle of a parking lot where Broder drove around and around in circles (running the battery down) claiming he couldn't find:

https://twitter.com/TeslaRoadTrip/status/302958514245087233/photo/1