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CNN Replicates John Broder's Drive In the Tesla Model S

Posted by Soulskill on from the not-that-anybody-hasn't-already-made-up-their-minds dept.

karlnyberg writes "Adding a third voice to the conflict between Tesla's Elon Musk and New York Times Reporter John Broder, CNN/Money's Peter Valdes-Dapena drove from DC to Boston (primarily to test the SuperCharger network). As he says in the article: In the end, I made it — and it wasn't that hard. ... As for the Supercharger network? Turns out that works, too.' He expands on this a bit: 'Looking back on the trip, it would be even easier if Tesla would install one of their fast-charging Superchargers along the New Jersey Turnpike. (These charging stations can fill up a nearly dead battery in Tesla's longest-range cars in about an hour, which is enough time to stop for a meal.) Tesla's working on that, spokeswoman Shanna Hendricks said. But the first priority was to install enough to make this trip, even if you had to take it easy most of the way. But I didn't have to take it that easy, which is good because the Model S provides a pretty amazing mix of smooth and silent performance along with brain-squishing acceleration. So even if you're not driving from Washington to Boston, it's an impressive car, all on its own.'"

2 of 525 comments (clear)

  1. For the life of me by Lucas123 · · Score: 1, Troll

    I don't understand why everyone is so gaga over these Tesla's. Is it a beautiful car? Yeah. Is it well made? Yeah. But, the base price remains at $57,400. This is not a car for the masses. It's like writing about an all-electric Mercedes. Who cares?

  2. Re:Problem with egos really by Crispy+Critters · · Score: 1, Troll
    I think Musk's plan was to turn this into a shouting contest, because if you look at his graphs, the car did not perform very well in the cold weather. The range was much shorter than the estimated range reported by the computer. Check Musk's graphs--it's right there. Strip away all the drama, and the test was bad for Tesla, unless the main result could be hidden under enough layers of BS.

    If Broder were Tesla's biggest fanboi, all he could have done was bury the article--any version of it would have made clear the problems. The range was short--this is undeniable at it is in Musk's graphs. The range/charge measurement is no good on very cold mornings. If these points aren't the obvious takeaways, then it is because Musk is a PR genius.