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Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

money.cnn.com

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Re: Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

#91

Post by jnsaff2 »

analog wrote: post #41
potatolicious wrote: post #6

Not really a surprise - I don't think there was really any doubt about the performance of the Tesla in normal weather. The NYC area right now is well above freezing, approaching +10C in the daytime, nowhere near the deep freeze that occurred during the NYT drive. This still doesn't put to rest the expected (but somehow controversial) concerns about lithium battery performance in cold weather. This concern IMO needs t…

Diesel also needs special considerations in colder weather (the fuel becomes too viscous at lower temperatures). Just a different set of problems to petrol, not a dealbreaker imo.

We had most of december and january below -15C sometimes down to -30C and diesel cars had no problems. Most problems were caused by guess what: batteries not giving enough juice to start. Diesel cars, having bigger batteries, were actually more reliable.

Re: Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

#93

Post by seanc722 »

RaphiePS wrote: post #65
taligent wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I don't find it childish to strongly defend your product if you believe a journalist Childish really is the best word for it. It wasn't a measured, intelligent response. It came across as a "beat the journalist up" because they posted a bad review. Reminds me of the sort of thing you see bad restaurant owners do when they respond to diner's complaints.

A bad review is not the same thing as a dishonest review. It wasn't that Broder simply disliked the car. Musk felt he had falsified data to make Tesla look bad.

I didn't think the initial article made Tesla look bad at all.. It pointed out a few problems such as needing charging stations closer together, better awareness on electrical card and maybe a better understanding of the effects of cold on a battery... Other then that I thought the car and Tesla seemed fine ul until Musk's responses.

Re: Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

#94

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

TylerE wrote: post #53
analog wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diesel also needs special considerations in colder weather (the fuel becomes too viscous at lower temperatures). Just a different set of problems to petrol, not a dealbreaker imo.

Not really, any more. The fuel is winterized at point of purchase, so fuel geling is rather unlikely these days (and if it does, there are additives that will un-gel it. Modern glow plugs are also much better. In my VW TDI, at 10F the glow plug cycle is only about 3 seconds, and then it fires right up. No glow plugs need at all above 35F.

Usually you're right. Unfortunately we had a bit of a facepalm last year here in MN when the diesel-powered school buses wouldn't start at -10F or something. It turns out that in the state's hurry to push biodiesel on municipal vehicles, someone forgot that it gels at higher temperatures than "normal" diesel.

Thousands of schoolchildren were quite happy, though.

Re: Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

#95

Post by stcredzero »

genwin wrote: post #79
eli wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you drove the distance from Boston to DC in Switzerland, you wouldn't be in Switzerland anymore. The whole country fits inside New York State.

Switzerland is about the size of West Virginia.

And even slightly more rugged in terms of landscape.

Re: Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

#96

Post by stcredzero »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #56
DigitalSea wrote: post #16

Regardless of how much warmer the weather is than when Broder drove the car. If Broder had charged the car completely instead of partially regardless of the obvious drop in capacity in colder weather he still would have made it. CNN have just proven the car is capable, cold weather aside nothing would be much different here. Are we forgetting the data from the NYT review clearly showed Broder driving around in circle…

Who are these drivers? My car gets 180 miles range on a full tank (less than the Tesla) and I fill it every week, maybe. Yeah, if you need long range, don't play with electricity.

Or, at least plug it in overnight on a really cold day.

Re: Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

#97

Post by AlexeiSadeski »

makomk wrote: post #84
AlexeiSadeski wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>How Musk can act incredulous over assertions that the Model S is impractical for US intercity travel while acknowleding one hour fuelings every three hours is beyond me. Bingo.

One and a half hours if you actually charge to 100% rather than 90% - which CNN presumably did since their charging stops lasted that long. (And that's with top-of-the-range Superchargers; standard 240V dedicated car chargers are basically useless for long trips unless you're planning to stop and leave the car charging overnight.)

Woah... I'd assumed that the 1.5hr charge was with a standard charger...

Does using a "Supercharger" stress the battery?

Re: Test drive: DC to Boston in a Tesla Model S

#98

Post by dkhenry »

OGinparadise wrote: post #35
dkhenry wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see you have never missed an exit on the NJ turnpike. Even with a ICE you can easily run out of gas due to the large distance between exits and Service plazas. Thats one _more_ point towards the car, Even during a normal disturbance it can still work just fine if you you know actually charge it.

they are a lot of differences: You can exit and drive a few miles into a town to find a gas station and fill up in 2 minutes. If you filled your tank you know what you have inside, it will not drop due to temperature (relatively speaking) A tow truck can ultimately bring you gasoline. All these things rule the electric car out for me and many others, unless I am worth $20 million and buy one as a third car. I'd be sc…

If what your saying is true, then there is no reason for there to be tow trucks with gasoline , but there are. I know we have better infrastructure for ICE. We have built it out over 100 years , and because of that I think we still have a bias against switching to electric vehicles, but the real takeaway is that the problem is now infrastructure level. The cars are as good as if not better then their ICE counterparts (in many ways they are better and forced to be better due to the infrastructure limitations) There is always going to be the chance that your going to run out of juice. I would say its marginally greater then the chance your going to run out of gas , but thats not a car problem, and from just the car standpoint the number of things that can break is greatly reduced.
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