NYTimes blunders again... columnist says 200-300 mile EV battery nonexistant

[MSEV]

About four years ago (the third article in the post above) he was aware of Tesla.
I am a bit flabbergasted...
Really disappointed in Nocera, and would like to know the truth, why he did what he did, said what he said.

 

[ecarfan]

The author is very aware that Tesla exists and has batteries that meet the criteria described.

Talking Business - Costly Toys, or a New Era for Drivers? - NYTimes.com

Thanks for finding that 2008 piece by Nocera about Tesla. Now I am even more disappointed in him! Almost every negative point in that article about Tesla and EVs has been clearly shown to be wrong, 6 years later. But still Nocera writes in 2014 about how EVs aren't the future because batteries aren't good enough or cheap enough! He ignores recent Tesla successes and the Nevada battery factory.

When you look at that article with the 2008 photo of Elon standing next to an orange Roadster in a workshop that is obviously building cars by hand, very slowly, and think about how Tesla production is working now, and how sophisticated a Model S is and the accolades it has received, the change is astonishing. But Nocera ignores all that.

 

[tomsax]

History keeps repeating itself.

From July, 2008 Nocera wrote a rant about Tesla Motors filled with errors, The Electric Car Cometh.

My blog in response (the snippy title being a play on a comment Steve Jobs made about Nocera getting his facts wrong): Joe Nocera - Slime Bucket of Incorrect Facts

Six months later they ran another Tesla hit piece: Should Taxpayers Back a High-End Electric Carmaker? For that one, they printed my response as a letter to the editor: Letters - The Tesla Technology - Letter - NYTimes.com

 

[MSEV]

Very interesting to turn back the clock to 2008 and read what Tesla said it would do and to read what Mr. Nocera was saying and knew, even back then. Thanks for posting.

 

[tomsax]

When you look at that article with the 2008 photo of Elon standing next to an orange Roadster in a workshop that is obviously building cars by hand, very slowly, and think about how Tesla production is working now, and how sophisticated a Model S is and the accolades it has received, the change is astonishing.

That photo was taken inside the R&D facility on Bing Street in Menlo Park, where the Roadster was developed. The Roadsters were built on a Lotus assembly line in England then shipped to the US where the battery pack was installed at the Menlo Park service center.

Still, your observation about how much things have changed is valid.

 

[Rheazombi]

So it appears Team Evil is winning, lol.

 

[anticitizen13.7]

The author is very aware that Tesla exists and has batteries that meet the criteria described.

Talking Business - Costly Toys, or a New Era for Drivers? - NYTimes.com
On the Electric Car’s Future - NYTimes.com
Pace Joe Nocera Apple's Irish Tax Breaks Do Have A Value - Forbes
Log In - The New York Times

I had no idea that Mr. Nocera had knowledge of Tesla going back to the Roadster days. That makes his most recent column all the more disappointing, and raises serious question about the credibility of the New York Times.

 

[FlasherZ]

Actually... a number of battery modules comprised of thousands of cells. :wink:

A battery of cells.

 

[tomsax]

I had no idea that Mr. Nocera had knowledge of Tesla going back to the Roadster days.

I don't think "knowledge" is the right term. It's more like longstanding willful ignorance.

 

[artsci]

I don't think "knowledge" is the right term. It's more like longstanding willful ignorance.

Frankly this makes me very suspicious of anything Nocera writes; it demonstrates the he can't be trusted.

 

[JST]

The discussion on Twitter between Andrew James and Lydia Dallett at the NYT about what a battery is is more than a little disheartening.

 

[anticitizen13.7]

The discussion on Twitter between Andrew James and Lydia Dallett at the NYT about what a battery is is more than a little disheartening.

I just read those tweets and it's pretty bad. I do not think that Ms. Dallet has much understanding of the technology.

 

[tomsax]

The discussion on Twitter between Andrew James and Lydia Dallett at the NYT about what a battery is is more than a little disheartening.

What are the Twitter @names?

 

[AndreN]

What are the Twitter @names?

This looks like a good place to start: https://twitter.com/Ldallett/with_replies

Apparently it's all about making one big battery instead of using thousands of little ones? OK then.

 

[JST]

Also @andreasjames

 

[bonnie]

@ldallett was giving that standard answer to everyone who pointed out Tesla's existence - it wasn't just to Andrea. She quit tweeting that response out after she realized she looked foolish.

 

[Norbert]

This looks like a good place to start: https://twitter.com/Ldallett/with_replies

Apparently it's all about making one big battery instead of using thousands of little ones? OK then.

Yeah Tesla uses "packs". That doesn't count.

 

[bonnie]

Looks like it's all still there:

 

[Norbert]

Looks like it's all still there:

But she really should delete them.

"Red Herring", "ignorance" or "technical illiteracy" wouldn't cover it. Now I can see how it is possible that the famous NYT prints articles like those.

('I don't have to understand that.')

 

[dhanson865]

Looks like it's all still there:

View attachment 72020

Key difference is finding a single cow that provides 300 hamburgers and is marketable instead of buying ground beef from a factory that uses thousands of cows. Does she know where her food comes from?

Key differnce is finding a single hard drive that stores 300TB instead of using thousands of platters. Does she know how hard drives have multiple platters inside one enclosure?

Key difference is finding single employee that can make a car instead of using thousands of employees. Does she really think Mr Smiths backyard racer is better than a large company's product?

Key difference is she uses her twitter account spew lots of text and I read to learn more than I type.