Tesla accuses New York Times of faking a Model S road test: Big Oil dollars at work?
#47
Let’s answer these assertions in turn. My account was not a fake. It happened just the way I described it. When I first charged the car, which was equipped with the highest-capacity battery available, of 85 kilowatt-hours, at the Tesla Supercharger station in Newark, Del., I left it connected to the cable for 49 minutes until the dash display read “Charging Complete.” The battery meter read 90 percent full, with a range of 242 miles.
I was not directed by anyone at Tesla at any time to then switch to the Max Range setting and wait to top off the battery. If I had, I might have picked up an additional 25 or so miles of range, but that would have taken as long as 30 additional minutes.
I was not directed by anyone at Tesla at any time to then switch to the Max Range setting and wait to top off the battery. If I had, I might have picked up an additional 25 or so miles of range, but that would have taken as long as 30 additional minutes.
What about next charge location?
v
When I parked the car for the night at a hotel, the range meter showed 90 miles remaining, and I was about 45 miles from the Milford Supercharger. As I recounted in the article, when I awoke the next morning the indicated range was 25 miles. The rest of that story is told in the article, including a Tesla official’s counsel, which I followed, that an hour of charging at the Norwich, Conn., utility would restore much of the range lost overnight, which had disappeared because of what he called a “software glitch.”
#48
Lexus Fanatic
Next article in the NYT, owner ignores low fuel warning light and runs out of gas due to cold weather causing the engine to use more fuel than expected. Vehicle seen on flat bed being transported to the nearest gas station. Oh the scandal.
#49
and Toyoda or Lutz call him a liar thats conspiring against them on twitter.
#50
Lexus Champion
iTrader: (28)
SPwolf sounds like you and John Broder know each other. I dont care what you say, the man LIED.
Dont say you turn down the heater and instead you turn it up. Don't say you charged the car 58 minutes and really only let it charge 47. If he wasn't trying to push his own agenda why not just say he had to cut the charge short? Let me guess, you don't have an answer.
If my gasoline car reads 30miles range, why the hell should I expect it to drive 50 miles?
Dont say you turn down the heater and instead you turn it up. Don't say you charged the car 58 minutes and really only let it charge 47. If he wasn't trying to push his own agenda why not just say he had to cut the charge short? Let me guess, you don't have an answer.
If my gasoline car reads 30miles range, why the hell should I expect it to drive 50 miles?
#51
SPwolf sounds like you and John Broder know each other. I dont care what you say, the man LIED.
Dont say you turn down the heater and instead you turn it up. Don't say you charged the car 58 minutes and really only let it charge 47. If he wasn't trying to push his own agenda why not just say he had to cut the charge short? Let me guess, you don't have an answer.
If my gasoline car reads 30miles range, why the hell should I expect it to drive 50 miles?
Dont say you turn down the heater and instead you turn it up. Don't say you charged the car 58 minutes and really only let it charge 47. If he wasn't trying to push his own agenda why not just say he had to cut the charge short? Let me guess, you don't have an answer.
If my gasoline car reads 30miles range, why the hell should I expect it to drive 50 miles?
What you are saying is simply not true. Read a bit. He did turn off the heater, just not exactly where Musk showed it... data clearly shows heater being off for quite a while.
And in fact as to the range, he was talking to Tesla all the time. They told him it should be fine as it is software glitch (it went down from 90 to 25 while car was parked overnight).
And overall, guy drove his car under the speed limit on average for the journey. He talked to tesla personel multiple times, in fact it seems he talked to them all the time. He had heater turned off for a while. Wtf are you supposed to do in your 100k car?
You can see his last response here:
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013...ef=automobiles
#52
IMO any bias shown by a journalist should be brought to light, good job Musk. So sick of the media in general. Even NPR's "no rant, no slant" can get a little 'slanty' lol.
I'm a patrol head but a realist too. I'm not a fan of hybrid and electric bashing for the simple fact I'm very grateful there are rich people willing to buy these machines despite shortcomings, to spur development so that at a later date, when it may be necessary and necessity to use these alternative options, they are there, developed and ready to go. Plus living in Los Angeles, call it a pipe dream but it would be awesome if more and more people rock uber ULEVs, hybrids, electrics, fuel cells etc and we no longer see smog at a block's length.
I'm a patrol head but a realist too. I'm not a fan of hybrid and electric bashing for the simple fact I'm very grateful there are rich people willing to buy these machines despite shortcomings, to spur development so that at a later date, when it may be necessary and necessity to use these alternative options, they are there, developed and ready to go. Plus living in Los Angeles, call it a pipe dream but it would be awesome if more and more people rock uber ULEVs, hybrids, electrics, fuel cells etc and we no longer see smog at a block's length.
#53
Lexus Test Driver
You can see his last response here:
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013...ef=automobiles
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2013...ef=automobiles
The NYT deserves criticism, but not for the reasons others have posted in this thread. No, the NYT deserves criticism for pro-Tesla bias by playing right into their hands. Let me know when Tesla buyers need to file trip plans with Tesla, have Tesla personnel actively monitoring the performance of their cars, and are on the phone with senior Tesla staff twelve times over a two-day(?) trip for technical assistance. This is almost as bad as Ferrari infamously providing two cars to magazines to review, one for straight-line work and one for the track.
Last edited by gengar; 02-14-13 at 04:52 PM.
#54
Lexus Test Driver
BTW, a Jalopnik writer contacted the tow truck driver who had to flatbed the Tesla after it ran out of power. The tow truck driver has backed up Broder's claims, noting that the car was so out of power that it wouldn't come out of park and wouldn't release its electric parking brake, and the car couldn't even be jumped despite following instructions via phone from Tesla personnel.
This directly contradicts Musk's claim in his attack release that the car's battery "never ran out of energy at any time, including when Broder called the flatbed truck" and therefore that Broder was making up the story.
This is looking like more and more of a PR nightmare for Tesla.
http://jalopnik.com/tow-truck-driver...ware-202391288
This directly contradicts Musk's claim in his attack release that the car's battery "never ran out of energy at any time, including when Broder called the flatbed truck" and therefore that Broder was making up the story.
This is looking like more and more of a PR nightmare for Tesla.
http://jalopnik.com/tow-truck-driver...ware-202391288
Last edited by gengar; 02-14-13 at 05:11 PM.
#55
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I agree, not only that the local PD should issue him a speeding ticket as well.
#56
Does anyone remember the TV expose if the danger of the GM pickups with side mounted fuel tanks. The TV show (NBC?) showed a crash and the GM pickup exploding in a ball of fire. It turns out that to get the explosion, they fired model rocket motors. Totally bogus! There is no such thing as media ethics.
Steve
Steve
#57
BTW, a Jalopnik writer contacted the tow truck driver who had to flatbed the Tesla after it ran out of power. The tow truck driver has backed up Broder's claims, noting that the car was so out of power that it wouldn't come out of park and wouldn't release its electric parking brake, and the car couldn't even be jumped despite following instructions via phone from Tesla personnel.
This directly contradicts Musk's claim in his attack release that the car's battery "never ran out of energy at any time, including when Broder called the flatbed truck" and therefore that Broder was making up the story.
This is looking like more and more of a PR nightmare for Tesla.
http://jalopnik.com/tow-truck-driver...ware-202391288
This directly contradicts Musk's claim in his attack release that the car's battery "never ran out of energy at any time, including when Broder called the flatbed truck" and therefore that Broder was making up the story.
This is looking like more and more of a PR nightmare for Tesla.
http://jalopnik.com/tow-truck-driver...ware-202391288
On that late January day when the Model S required a tow, it was "somewhere between 0 and 10 degrees outside," Ibsen said, so both of them were cold and miserable.
"It didn't appear that the gentleman driving the car wanted it to not work," Ibsen told me. "I don't think he had any desire to stand freezing on the side of the road."
Much of what Ibsen told me echoed what his towing company coworker said earlier today. When he arrived, the Model S was stuck in park and its electric parking brake was on, making it very hard to get onto the flatbed. There was a way to jump the car's 12-volt battery, but that wasn't working, he said.
Now, the car's touch screen center console was working, and Ibsen was on the phone with a Tesla employee in California who was walking him through a process to get the brake off, but he wasn't getting the messages or menus on the screen that the employee said he was supposed to.
"We put the jumper box on to get the 12 volt battery working, but he said if it was completely dead it wouldn't work," Ibsen said. He said the Tesla employee was helpful but understandably frustrated.
"It didn't appear that the gentleman driving the car wanted it to not work," Ibsen told me. "I don't think he had any desire to stand freezing on the side of the road."
Much of what Ibsen told me echoed what his towing company coworker said earlier today. When he arrived, the Model S was stuck in park and its electric parking brake was on, making it very hard to get onto the flatbed. There was a way to jump the car's 12-volt battery, but that wasn't working, he said.
Now, the car's touch screen center console was working, and Ibsen was on the phone with a Tesla employee in California who was walking him through a process to get the brake off, but he wasn't getting the messages or menus on the screen that the employee said he was supposed to.
"We put the jumper box on to get the 12 volt battery working, but he said if it was completely dead it wouldn't work," Ibsen said. He said the Tesla employee was helpful but understandably frustrated.
As to his speeds, it clearly shows he touched 81 for a second and drove a long time under the speed limit and without heater.
#58
hm, i looked for articles on Tesla battery, look what I found.
Owner had a battery pricked due to car not being charged for 2 months and Musk attacked him for trying to get money out of them
It seems that this is the way Musk operates. Shady as ****. If they did not tell him that battery WILL brick if you dont recharge it, they need to cover the replacement. What happens when 20,000 a year owners start doing "stupid" things with their cars?
http://jalopnik.com/5887499/who-is-t...-whistleblower
Owner had a battery pricked due to car not being charged for 2 months and Musk attacked him for trying to get money out of them
It seems that this is the way Musk operates. Shady as ****. If they did not tell him that battery WILL brick if you dont recharge it, they need to cover the replacement. What happens when 20,000 a year owners start doing "stupid" things with their cars?
Now Tesla Motors, or a pro-Tesla individual close to the company, appears to be trying to smear Max Drucker, the owner who spoke out about the problem, by leaking confidential documents and insinuating that he's doing a "shakedown" despite the fact that Drucker doesn't appear to be asking for any money.
http://jalopnik.com/5887499/who-is-t...-whistleblower
#59