SXSW: Elon Musk Talks Reusable Rockets, Tesla Controversy

Nerval's Lobster writes "Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Motors, took the keynote stage at this year's SXSW to talk about everything from space exploration to electric cars. Joining him onstage to ask questions was Chris Anderson, the former Wired editor and co-founder of 3DRobotics. Musk used his keynote discussion to show off a video of a rocket test, which he said had taken place earlier that week. In the video, a ten-story rocket takes off from a launching pad and hovers several hundred feet in the air before landing in the same spot, upright. It's an early test of SpaceX's reusable-rocket project. 'Reusability is extremely important,' Musk told the audience. 'If you think it's important that humanity extends beyond Earth and becomes a multitenant species' then reusable rockets will prove essential. Musk also talked about the recent controversy involving his Tesla Motors, which started when a New York Times reporter claimed in a much-circulated column that his electric-powered Model S sedan had ground to a halt during a test drive up the East Coast. 'I have no problem with negative feedback,' he told Anderson, in response to the latter's question. 'There have been hundreds of negative articles, and yet I've only spoken out a few times. I don't have a problem with critical reviews, I have a problem with false reviews.'"

Comments

Re:I call BS

[91degrees]

If the NYT journalist had charged properly and as instructed, then it would have been 3 charges

The problem is that he did exactly as instructed. Perhaps a little too religiously, but he was given a lot of bad advice here.

The NYT journalist claimed he turn the heat down to extend range, the logs show he increased the temperature from 72F to 74F. The actual temperatures don't matter, it's the lie that matters.

He said he turned it to low. Which presumably means he set it to "Eco" as per Tesla's range extending guidelines.

The journalist claimed he had cruise control on at 55, logs show him travelling at 62-81MPH. Again, it's the lie that matters no the actual speeds.

This all seems pretty odd. One of them is lying or mistaken. Was Tesla's logging actually accurate? The comments about going to 81mph is misleading though since his speed leaped up that high a couple of times.

Most cars, no matter the power source, get 10-20% less than the claimed economy figures. Is this right, no, but to single out one company seems to smack of double standards.

Most cars, if you fill them up and don't quite manage the range will mildly inconvenience you. A Tesla S running out means that you've a good chance of running out of juice before you get a chance to refuel.