NYT article: Stalled on the EV Highway

[Bardlebee]

I fail to see the concern about the "tracking" that Tesla can do with your car. Maybe it's because I am in the networking field, but newsflash, your GPS on your phone does the same exact thing. I am not a conspiracy theorist but realistically if any company wanted to remotely turn on your GPS feature in your phone they could without a doubt in my mind. Also, they could make your GPS feature seem dormant and track you anyway if it was off. These are all just simple software features.

We live in the year 2013, we are being tracked and if we didn't want to we would dispose of our smart phones, but no one will. I don't really care who sees where I go, because I don't run a drug trade or smuggle immigrants. So who cares. The worst they can do is tailor ads to my liking depending where I travel. I am cool with that.

I really don't see the concern.

EDIT: Lets not forget that this unprecedented ability to see what's wrong with your car via logs means unprecedented service.

 

[Krugerrand]

I don't see an apology coming from NYT or the firing/demotion/extended holiday of Mr. Broder. Already Mr. Broder is claiming he drove around in circles because it was dark out and the Superchargers were unlit and he couldn't find them. I'm sure he's got a reason (excuse) for everything else. "I had to roll down the window because it was fogging and thusly I then had to turn up the heat a few degrees. I swear that's what I told the Tesla person and they simply heard me wrong." "The car told me it was charged, so how was I to know it was only 72%, it said 'full'." "It wasn't my brother, it was my dentist and I was in such pain having broken a tooth. Are you going to not allow a man with a toothache to get it fixed? Should I have done the rest of the trip while on Oxy?" "I stuck my finger out the window and the wind resistance told me I was going 45mph, not 80mph, clearly there's a glitch in the software."

Oh, yeah, he'll have an answer for everything and he'll be backed up by the NYT. If he's slick enough to write the original article, he's slick enough to have already figured out how he'd counter anything Tesla says about it.

 

[kishdude]

Looks like the NYTs is going to fight this.



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



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

Are you kidding me - this is total BS? He drove for .7 miles in a circle looking for the "unmarked and unlighted" supercharger? Can someone who is close to this supercharger location please take some pictures and post how hard it is to find the supercharger?

 

[carrerascott]

Oh! what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive!

 

[Bardlebee]

Though, judging from most comments on the NYT website the people know he is wrong, and that is what matters. At the end of all this the writer looks to have falsified claims and in fact this has turned into great media for Tesla when it was very unexpected. Imagine if I were on the fence about this car, having read this article would have made me perhaps not purchase the vehicle. But, the next day finding out it was all false? I think I would then try to purchase. Just my opinion of course, seeing all the overwhelmingly positive things about the car, I wouldn't take one NYT article to heart. Though I don't live in a cold climate area.

 

[onlinespending]

Oh, yeah, he'll have an answer for everything and he'll be backed up by the NYT. If he's slick enough to write the original article, he's slick enough to have already figured out how he'd counter anything Tesla says about it.

He's clearly not that slick, otherwise he would have been aware that these data logs could be used against his phoney article. He THINKS he's slick and that's the difference. The irony here is that as it becomes more and more apparent that his story was fabricated to those following the story, it only serves to provide free positive publicity for Tesla. Way to end up promoting the technology you were so clearly out to bash, Broder. What a turd sandwich!

 

[rolosrevenge]

I'm almost considering a change.org petition against this tool in the name of journalistic integrity.

 

[Todd Burch]

I suspect an animated, real-time playback of his excursion at the charging location (easy to do) would show whether he appeared to be searching or just burning electrons. If you ask me, it seems like he wanted to try to run out the charge at a charging station so he could see what happened and be close enough to push the car to the charger to get some juice.

Mind you, I think it's pretty clear he's lying...

 

[rlpm]

Here's an interesting detail I haven't seen explicitly called out elsewhere:

According to the NYT graphic, Broder began with a "Full charge", but they don't note the range in miles. In the SoC data log in the blog post, it shows Broder started with 100% charge, so the car should have shown ~265 miles of rated range.

So while it may be factual that during phone calls to Tesla during the drive, no one at Tesla explicitly said he should do a "max range" charge, if I had used a supercharger to the point of the car saying "charge complete", but the range didn't show the same number as it did when I started driving the car, I would have called and asked why not.

Also see my thinking on not being able to disengage the parking brake.

Did Broder have an agenda? I say yes, definitely. And I don't understand how anyone can think differently, especially given his previous piece on EVs.

 

[onlinespending]

Already Mr. Broder is claiming he drove around in circles because it was dark out and the Superchargers were unlit and he couldn't find them.

Ahhh that explains all the problems along the trip. Driving around in circles for more than half a mile, trying to drive twice as far as the estimated range, turning the heat up when he meant to turn it down, charging it to 28% when he thought it read 100%. Mr Broder wasn't deliberately trying to disparage the Model S. No, he's just really, really stupid!

 

[brianman]

Are you kidding me - this is total BS? He drove for .7 miles in a circle looking for the "unmarked and unlighted" supercharger? Can someone who is close to this supercharger location please take some pictures and post how hard it is to find the supercharger?

For a "reporter" -- aka "someone in the know" -- with a 17" browser in front of him, he certainly seems mentally challenged...

1. Bing
2. milford connecticut supercharger - Bing
3. 9th hit...
4. Tesla SuperCharger Northbound Milford Travel Plaza Milford, CT | Electric Car Stations
5. Click the + on the map

It took me at least 4 times longer to post this than to find it. So, basically, under 30 seconds to find it.

 

[agelston]

It is fair to say that Elon has DESTROYED the reporter's claims with hard evidence.

That post also really shows how much testing went into the model S. Freaking impressive. Musk Should start building planes, seriously.

 

[Krugerrand]

Though I don't live in a cold climate area.

Yes, except now there's a question if the car even lost that much charge sitting overnight unplugged in cold weather. That is being discussed in the 3,000 page thread.

I'm not sure what the outcome ends up being. People are notoriously short-sighted and gravitate to what's easy (handed to them). Look at how many on this board, who follow Tesla closely and really should know better, took Mr. Broder and his article at face value simply because it was in print in the NYT... and therefore came to the conclusion that it was automatically correct.

Then a number of people were critical of Mr. Musk for speaking out against the article, saying he's making things worse for Tesla and EV adoption, that he's being combative. Today it's a different story, except for a few who still want to find something to complain about, even though it's all been addressed and they just don't want to hear it.

The saying, any publicity is good publicity, may or may not be true in this case. What I do know is that the car is a marvel and it sells itself given the chance. Whether people are open to giving it that chance or not - who's to say?

 

[Merrill]

Jason, exactly what I was thinking. You would think that people would be willing to except other points of view, I have talked to some people and there comment on EV's is there a joke. I will pay what ever the oil lobby wants for fuel, this kind of thinking is partially the reason for EV's still not mainstream in this country. Give me a break, we went to the moon over 50 years ago and created materials and technology to get there. On a more positive note, I see a shift on this thinking, especially in California. I wish more people would be more willing to embrace something new. Counting down the days until I get MY TESLA!!!!!!

 

[brianman]

Yes, except now there's a question if the car even lost that much charge sitting overnight unplugged in cold weather. That is being discussed in the 3,000 page thread.

I'm not sure what the outcome ends up being. People are notoriously short-sighted and gravitate to what's easy (handed to them). Look at how many on this board, who follow Tesla closely and really should know better, took Mr. Broder and his article at face value simply because it was in print in the NYT... and therefore came to the conclusion that it was automatically correct.

Then a number of people were critical of Mr. Musk for speaking out against the article, saying he's making things worse for Tesla and EV adoption, that he's being combative. Today it's a different story, except for a few who still want to find something to complain about, even though it's all been addressed and they just don't want to hear it.

The saying, any publicity is good publicity, may or may not be true in this case. What I do know is that the car is a marvel and it sells itself given the chance. Whether people are open to giving it that chance or not - who's to say?

As one of the people that was troubled by his original tone, I still am. I never felt he wasn't justified (he's too smart to do that), just that it wasn't the best course. I still think so.

The blog content and tone are fine, the preceding call-ins and appearances could have been better.

 

[agelston]

Assuming that Elon's post gets picked up by the mainstream media, this entire incident could actually really help Tesla. Data that demonstrates the Model S's ability played for free in many major outlets. This could be a huge blessing in disguise/

 

[mpt]

...he'd certainly know which battery chemistry to use

 

[kinddog]

What makes people hate electric cars so much? Really odd thing to do imho.

in Broder's case, cognitive dissonance.

Broder = pwned.

Musk FTW!!!!! :tongue:

- - - Updated - - -

As one of the people that was troubled by his original tone, I still am. I never felt he wasn't justified (he's too smart to do that), just that it wasn't the best course. I still think so.

The blog content and tone are fine, the preceding call-ins and appearances could have been better.

i agree with this though. you could tell from his initial reactions that he is very emotional about Model S. understandable certainly, but as CEO, you can't always "keep it real". you gotta play the game...

 

[tdelta1000]

Mr. Musk's closing statement says it all.

"Our request of The New York Times is simple and fair: please investigate this article and determine the truth. You are a news organization where that principle is of paramount importance and what is at stake for sustainable transport is simply too important to the world to ignore."

 

[tdelta1000]

Let's close this thread with this for Mr. Elon Musk.

"Our request of The New York Times is simple and fair: please investigate this article and determine the truth. You are a news organization where that principle is of paramount importance and what is at stake for sustainable transport is simply too important to the world to ignore."