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That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn’t

wheels.blogs.nytimes.com

111–120 of 281 posts

Re: That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn’t

#111
post #5

> I was given battery-conservation advice at that time (turn off the cruise control; alternately slow down and speed up to take advantage of regenerative braking ) that was later contradicted by other Tesla personnel. What the heck? Does this guy seriously think that braking and then speeding up will conserve battery? Maybe the adage "don't attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity" is true.

He's probably thinking that other Tesla drivers will do what the company tells them to do, so he does it to see what happens. Do you think the author is going to be the dumbest person to ever drive a Tesla?

Yes, because his actions are most consistent with someone seeking the lowest quality advice available to them. Despite having multiple sources of information for both the estimated range, as well as the nearest charging stations, he happened to not only choose the least reasonable, but the one with the worst outcome.

Re: That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn’t

#112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good thing Musk is willing to "stand up to them" given that he's the truly unbiased one in this situation, right? He's playing an angle here too. And the other article ( http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2013/02/elon-musks... ) casts some doubt on his loud protestations. And they've only released their summarized charts, not the raw log data, anyway. It's already a "he said / she said" situation, it's just th…

On the other hand, Brody has known record of exaggeration and distortion of truth. Whereas Musk is an honest, no-nonsense engineer. (Although I'd be interested if you could point me to a situation where Musk was caught blatantly lying about something.)

Musk is a business man and is concerned about marketing as much as anyone else. Here are his comments aimed toward the Volt:

"Yet the state of the electric car is dismal, the victim of hyped expectations, technological flops, high costs and a hostile political climate.”

Not exactly and objective view, or totally fair.

Re: That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn’t

#113
My summary:

1) We need more EV infrastructure, a point that seems to be getting lost and that I think should have been the thesis of the original article.

2) Broder was irresponsible for not taking seriously enough what the car was telling him and trusting too much the judgment of people 3,000 miles away.

3) Musk is on the defensive and perhaps overreacting because he feels he's doing good in the world and has produced a solid product that is now being unjustly (he feels) attacked.

4) External factors affect mileage, no matter what kind of car you're driving.

5) The attention this spat is receiving suggests to me people understand we can do a much smarter, better job of hauling our asses around.

Re: That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn’t

#114
post #7

Overall I think Broder acquits himself well, and his explanation about circling the Milford parking lot makes sense. Also, the Tesla engineer he was on the phone with at the time should have been able to tell Musk that happened (or Tesla should have just asked Broder to comment before posting the rebuttal). His action here is still hard to understand: > The Tesla personnel whom I consulted over the phone – Ms. Ra and…

I agree, that's the key to the whole thing right there. It says to me that, if I had to guess, I'd bet he didn't call them and headed out despite the range being short, because he knew he was about to be stranded and have a tantalizing story. And when asked, he could always say he followed their recommendations to the letter.

Also, the amount of weasel words he manages to use on a lot of his other explanations doesn't exactly help his credibility...

Re: That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn’t

#115
post #7

Overall I think Broder acquits himself well, and his explanation about circling the Milford parking lot makes sense. Also, the Tesla engineer he was on the phone with at the time should have been able to tell Musk that happened (or Tesla should have just asked Broder to comment before posting the rebuttal). His action here is still hard to understand: > The Tesla personnel whom I consulted over the phone – Ms. Ra and…

Given the ambiguity of what the dash was reporting and what Tesla personnel were telling him, it looks like he put his trust in the humans. In that situation, where you've been led to believe the dash behaves like a wonky gauge, it's quite reasonable to not call back.

Can't say I'd call starting out on a 61 mile journey with 32 miles of charge reasonable.

Re: That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn’t

#116
post #7

Overall I think Broder acquits himself well, and his explanation about circling the Milford parking lot makes sense. Also, the Tesla engineer he was on the phone with at the time should have been able to tell Musk that happened (or Tesla should have just asked Broder to comment before posting the rebuttal). His action here is still hard to understand: > The Tesla personnel whom I consulted over the phone – Ms. Ra and…

That stuck out for me and I think he is being dishonest with his delicate wording. They didn't clear him to go, as he suggests. They told him that it would be ready in an hour. He also explains that he drove past a station "because no one made him aware of it". That smells like wordplay too. He was probably aware of it, and any reasonable owner of the car would probably be aware of it, or be well equipped to look it…

The Tesla in-car dash only shows Superchargers, not regular chargers.

Re: That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn’t

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you aren't so hot either. Tell me, what do 19-inch and 21-inch specify? The outer diameter of the tire or the DIAMETER OF THE RIM?

> Maybe you aren't so hot either. So, grade school geometry refresher. When you increase the diameter of a circle, what happens to its circumference? Thanks for playing: "Do I think I am clever but just accidentally revealed I'm the level of dolt that needs basic geometry spelled out and assumes everyone else is as clueless as me?"

I do like the game :)

The overall diameter of the wheel is determined by the diameter of the rim + 2 times the thickness of the tire(!). Cars with larger rims usually have far thinner tires on them so the overall diameter stays almost the same. Whatever the case, the speedometer will need to be checked and adjusted. Human error in this case can swing either way.

Re: That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn’t

#118
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The answer is very simple: Brody is lying about what Tesla told him, just like he's told many other lies in his article and in the rebuttal. Putting it into a "he said / she said" is a smokescreen. The car might be a lemon but the idea that Tesla told him to run the heater to charge the battery is beyond credulity. This is not exactly the first time the NYT has told lies for ideological reasons. The paper does it reg…

Good thing Musk is willing to "stand up to them" given that he's the truly unbiased one in this situation, right? He's playing an angle here too. And the other article ( http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2013/02/elon-musks... ) casts some doubt on his loud protestations. And they've only released their summarized charts, not the raw log data, anyway. It's already a "he said / she said" situation, it's just th…

>> Good thing Musk is willing to "stand up to them" given that he's the truly unbiased one in this situation, right?

Fair enough, but let's not pretend that now that this reporter is in the spot light for possibly fabricating a story, his career isn't on the line. He (also) has every incentive to be extremely unbiased in his own defense.

Re: That Tesla Data: What It Says and What It Doesn’t

#120
post #81
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems to be plausible explanation, but I don't see how you give such advice to somebody on the road. You have two potential situations: 1. Battery has lost some charge for unknown reason, and has to be recharged. 2. Battery has proper charge, but the estimate is wrong. If you act according to true scenario, client is happy in both cases. If true scenario is 2 but you act like it's 1, the client wastes and hour t…

"If the support person gave different advice, he was setting himself and his company for the mess up, and the mess up ensued." This is why we need the call logs. And I fully suspect Tesla records them, so the fact that it wasn't released may suggest that Broder's account was indeed correct

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