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An editor with The New York Times backs up Elon Musk's claims that a reporter's test drive of a...
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Tuesday, February 19, 7:28 AM ETAn editor with The New York Times backs up Elon Musk's claims that a reporter's test drive of a Tesla Motors (TSLA) was flawed, saying "casual and imprecise notes" were taken during the trip. Though falling short of saying the reporter sabotaged the drive intentionally, it's a major win for Musk and the company in the high-profile PR battle .
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This news story has 34 comments:
But then again, I would (and I`m going to) gladly swap my current 30-40 visits to the gas station every year, with 2-4 supercharger visits.
Yes, real life is not so precise, however, if you filled up your gas powered car with just a couple of gallons but know you needed more to complete your trip, do you think you would be stranded on the side calling AAA??? The NYT reporter never filled up properly and did not charge overnight, which he clearly could have done. The roadtrip has already been taken again with success by casual and imprecise people who know how much they need before they travel to their destination.
OH WAIT!! I won't have to check the OIL!!!
I don't see any way in the world that sentence can be fairly construed as backing up Mr. Musk's claims.
"Mr. Broder left himself open to valid criticism by taking what seem to be casual and imprecise notes along the journey, unaware that his every move was being monitored."
"Did he use good judgment along the way? Not especially."
She has clearly suggested they both could have handled themselves better, she denies the malicious intent inferrred by Musk as it can never be proven and will remain he says he says speculation. However for a Public editor to outright say a journalist showed poor judgement and of keeping casual and imprecise notes is about as damning as she could reasonable be expected to be under the circumstances.
They probably say something like "casual and imprecise notes" were taken during the trip.
No mystery there...
"In addition, Mr. Broder left himself open to valid criticism by taking what seem to be casual and imprecise notes along the journey, unaware that his every move was being monitored. A little red notebook in the front seat is no match for digitally recorded driving logs, which Mr. Musk has used, in the most damaging (and sometimes quite misleading) ways possible, as he defended his vehicle’s reputation."
The sentence you have chosen does not back Mr. Musk's claims. Nor does the paragraph give any strong feeling of Margaret Sullivan "siding" with Elon Musk, but when you read the title of the article,
"Problems With Precision and Judgment, but Not Integrity, in Tesla Test"
and read the various other paragraphs brought to light by the comment above by Oz_Rob, I think the overall gist of the article clearly shows Margaret believes that John M. Broder could have exercised better judgement - in general.
Note to self: The new NYT definition of lying is "being casual/imprecise". And lying is OK, as long as you`re not monitored.
Low standards....
The issue is that the entire story and the negative outcomes of that story (i.e. this car is not capable of making a trip in convenient way as stated by TSLA) is based on multiple facts that were not just slightly misconsruued but vastly overstated.
Such as the driver making stating that the car was freezing, and that he was going 33% faster than what he stated he was going (60 mph vs 45).
Yes, of course the Tesla has to be charged. Is that really worth reporting? It's amazing in every other way.
After 60 + years shelling out $ to big oil and the big 3 ,it's refreshing to watch Elon Musk turn the auto industry upside down.
It's a better way to get from A to B.
Embrace it! It beats the cost of oil spills,,,,,
Broder did not use good judgement when it comes to the car, nor did he remotely follow the manual or any advice in the manual- that's more or less the summary from the editor.
The editor did not come out and say "he lied" since there would be huge ramifications to the NYT.
I would say the editor is about 80% on Teslas side and 20% on Broder's. it's not a perfect win for Tesla and Musk, but a win non the less. If Musk had just said Broders speeds, cabin temp, and charging were shady in Broders account and provided the data, shown a quick video of how simple it is to change to max range, and provided the user manual with the highlighted sections, it would have been a perfect win.
It's a win in another way for Tesla too, in that it made people aware of the car and the discussions about the car, it encouraged other organizations to make the same trip and it also made people question the validity of other anti-EV arguments since there was blatant lapses in common sense on Broders part.
1. The range reduction over night due to cold is not correct. Only some of it comes from systems draining the battery (and this drain will be reduced with about 75% when Tesla makes a bug free version of the sleep mode).
2. Some of the range comes back when the battery is reheated. Of course, some power is used in the process of reheating the battery, but everyone who has ever used batteries in the cold know that they seem weaker when cold, but work fine once they heat up.
3. The best thing about owning an EV is that you wake up to a full battery every morning. Why on earth would you skip plugging in? You try to make plugging in a bad thing, when in fact it is great and saves you loads of visits to the gas station every year....
If you could fill your gas tank up while you sleep for a fraction of the cost of a gas-station refill, would you let it refill?
#1 "Only some of it comes from systems draining the battery (and this drain will be reduced with about 75% when Tesla makes a bug free version of the sleep mode). "
#2: "Of course, some power is used in the process of reheating the battery, "
#3 "Why on earth would you skip plugging in?"
ummm - maybe because the battery gets sucked dry for just existing?
The difference with Tesla and other car makers, is that with Tesla many times the problem can be corrected on the spot just as it was here. If not, then Tesla will come and fix the car on the spot as part of the warranty, free of charge. Unless, of course, it is caused by bumbling by the owner. One of the people on the caravan even had a flat tire, which was fixed by Tesla, even though it was on a Sunday. What happened to Broder, and why he couldn't figure out what to do, I do not know. All I know is that when a problem arose with the caravan, that everything worked smoothly. And my own experience with Tesla has been similar - when I needed a little help from them to check out something that I didn't think was right, there was instant response correcting what was needed.
"It is worth noting that George Blankenship, Vice President of Sales & Ownership Experience was monitoring the road trip and was in phone contact with one of the leaders of the trip earlier in the day. "
See: http://bit.ly/WS5wEC
and find the comment about half way down the article.
Despite his weak rebuttal a 5 year old could have made this road trip work with a bit of common sense...as has been shown by many others who have now duplicated it step for step.
Perhaps the laws of physics cease to exist in your battery. Were these magic volts? Did you buy them from the same guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans?
http://nyti.ms/VrdPGp
it seems clear that internally the NYT is unhappy with the loose reporting even if they are still defending their reporter. It also seems clear that Mr. Musk will not back down or offer any quarter in this disagreement. He may have every right to bludgeon this reporter and by association the NYT, but this course of action will most likely have consequences in the future when Tesla needs all the media friends the company can muster.
As this specific story fades from general public memory, it will remain fixed in the mind of every automotive reporter in the US. They may be more careful when they report on Tesla but if the company mis-steps, they may show Mr. Musk the same level of mercy he has shown Mr. Broder.
That story too led to a recant and 'adjustment' of reported facts by the individuals involved.
In any event this whole incident reeks of overexaggeration and sensationalism. If there is any 'problem' with EVs it is a problem of infrastructure (charging stations) which is rapidly fading under the dozens of various initiatives in place by public and private interests nationwide.
The car should be judged on its merit as a product of the first new US automaker in generations, against comparable vehicles in its class, more so than on simple range.
It is telling that most disparaging comments mention the vehicles' cost before berating its range but do not compare it against similar ICE vehicles in its price class (and never refer to total cost of ownership). Nor do most disparaging comments acknowledge the fact that the vast majority of drivers rarely drive more than half of the car's max range.