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CNN Replicates John Broder's Drive In the Tesla Model S
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.'"
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?
What happens if these things gets popular?
I'd think that would be easier to deal with than the other side of things: what if they NEVER get popular? Where will you charge your $60,000 toy when Tesla is no more?
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
The CNN reporter didn't duplicate the test - he did it in warmer weather and most importantly in one day rather than two. The thing which did Broder's trip in - and which Tesla Motors don't want to talk about - was most of the available range disappearing overnight. If he'd done it in one day then he'd have made it, easily, even without charging the car any further than he did. (You can actually see the range disappearing at the 400 mile line on the graph Tesla released.)
Just another journo that you can safely not read. I think Broder was caught in a near-total lie.
Did you read Broder's reply to Musk? It's not even remotely a "near-total lie".
Tesla reps gave Broder the wrong information. They told him to give the Tesla a 30 minute charge on a lower-power charging station, which he did. They said even though the car's computer said 32 miles that he'd get back the extra range lost over a cold evening and be able to make it to his destination.
You're chastising Broder for listening to Tesla.
And the previous two charges Broder listened to the car. When it was sufficiently over the range required to make his next destination, he unplugged and continued on his way. Should he not have trusted the car's computer? If that's the case then Tesla has a bit of a problem, you can't trust what the car says.
The speeds? Is that the "lie"? Teslas have 21" wheels normally. He was driving on 19" snow tires. If the system logging his speed wasn't calibrated for the wheel difference you'd see the logs indicate speeds about 10% higher than Broder was actually traveling. There's your discrepancy between the two.
What other lies? The visit to downtown Manhattan? Which actually wasn't a visit to downtown Manhattan (Tesla's own map shows that to be the case.)
The running around a parking lot for a half mile? A single loop of the rest area he stopped at to charge would be... about 1/2 a mile and would be consistent with someone trying to find the charging station. If his goal was to drain the battery, why only 1/2 a mile/ Why not 2 or 3?
sheesh.
The willingness to disregard the reporter's store outright as 100% lies is incredibly disheartening.
I had hoped /. readers would be a bit more reasoned and impartial.
'The circled around the parking lot' thing is nonsense.
It was a total of 0.6 miles. Thats nothing in a rest stop parking lot.
The CNN reporter duplicated the test, charging it properly, and had 96 miles to spare at the end.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. 10 degrees warmer and didn't take the test breaking stop. he could have just stayed at home. broder would have made it easily without the battery draining stop.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
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.