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

wheels.blogs.nytimes.com

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

#211

Post by redm »

andrewfelix wrote: post #192
tunesmith wrote: post #162

I put a graph together showing all the points/counterpoints and here's what I'm left with. - not charging past 90% at the 1st station is defensible. Especially if Tesla warns it will shorten the battery's life. - It'd be better if Tesla's software took temperature into account when estimating mileage range. - Broder is being ridiculous about the cruise control and his speed estimates, and the temperature. He has part…

"reads like Broder was trying to stack the deck" I disagree. I think Broder is doing what a lot of journalists do and has accentuated the overall negative experience to create a better narrative. In spite of the poor communication and slight exaggeration, I don't feel like there was malice or a great deal of intent on Broder's behalf. He generally had a poor experience. The errors in his story do not negate that, and…

> In spite of the poor communication and slight exaggeration, I don't feel like there was malice or a great deal of intent on Broder's behalf. He generally had a poor experience.

I don't know much about electric cars, but I do know this: They aren't great for long distrance driving.

I have no doubt that Broder had a bad experience. When it's 10 degrees outside, I don't want to turn off the climate control. When I'm driving between cities, I don't want to stop at gas stations for over an hour. The list goes on.

This test was all about driving longer distances using fast (cough) charging stations. It seems clear to me no matter how you cut this up that the experience, compared to a gas powered vehicle was lousy. Who the hell wants to wait 1.5 hours at a gast station?

Tesla sounds great for driving around your city but I wouldn't think twice about buying one if I was driving great distances.

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

#213

Post by wtallis »

andrewfelix wrote: post #203
andrewfelix wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"reads like Broder was trying to stack the deck" I disagree. I think Broder is doing what a lot of journalists do and has accentuated the overall negative experience to create a better narrative. In spite of the poor communication and slight exaggeration, I don't feel like there was malice or a great deal of intent on Broder's behalf. He generally had a poor experience. The errors in his story do not negate that, and…

If you're going to downvote this, at least have the courtesy to respond.

You say that it's not "stacking the deck" for Broder to exaggerate for the sake of a better narrative, but that Musk should have given us just the facts. That's absolutely bullshit. If you think it's okay for Broder to editorialize, then at the very least Musk should be allowed to argue against it. After all, Broder's supposed to be a journalist, held to higher standards than Top Gear.

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

#214

Post by [deleted] »

andrewfelix wrote: post #192
tunesmith wrote: post #162

I put a graph together showing all the points/counterpoints and here's what I'm left with. - not charging past 90% at the 1st station is defensible. Especially if Tesla warns it will shorten the battery's life. - It'd be better if Tesla's software took temperature into account when estimating mileage range. - Broder is being ridiculous about the cruise control and his speed estimates, and the temperature. He has part…

"reads like Broder was trying to stack the deck" I disagree. I think Broder is doing what a lot of journalists do and has accentuated the overall negative experience to create a better narrative. In spite of the poor communication and slight exaggeration, I don't feel like there was malice or a great deal of intent on Broder's behalf. He generally had a poor experience. The errors in his story do not negate that, and…

[deleted]

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

#215

Post by sk5t »

DeepDuh wrote: post #207
zevyoura wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would be a more significant concern if he was driving his own car, but since it's a Tesla owned review model, I'm sure they have legal rights to it. In addition, given their past troubles with Top Gear I wouldn't be surprised if Tesla wrote it into a review agreement.

> .., but since it's a Tesla owned review model, I'm sure they have legal rights to it. I doubt that. Say, you lend a car to your friend and let the navigation system log his/her route. The route includes compromising information about work related issues. Even the logging itself is questionable, but then releasing that information to the public - boy, I'd sure check my lawyers first. As I understand, the 'European s…

Ah, but you're overlooking the extremely strong possibility that the contract Broder / NYT signed as part of borrowing the test vehicle authorized Tesla to use the onboard telemetry in any way Tesla sees fit.

Furthermore, this situation is extremely dissimilar to a private individual lending a car to another private individual to do things where the borrower has a reasonable expectation of privacy.

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

#217

Post by untog »

enraged_camel wrote: post #67
HelloMcFly wrote: post #44

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.)

You're seriously suggesting that Musk is entirely objective here? About a project he has invest millions in?

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

#218

Post by andrewfelix »

wtallis wrote: post #213
andrewfelix wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're going to downvote this, at least have the courtesy to respond.

You say that it's not "stacking the deck" for Broder to exaggerate for the sake of a better narrative, but that Musk should have given us just the facts. That's absolutely bullshit. If you think it's okay for Broder to editorialize, then at the very least Musk should be allowed to argue against it. After all, Broder's supposed to be a journalist , held to higher standards than Top Gear.

As mentioned a lot of journalists will attempt to create a narrative. They need to capture the readers interest with a compelling read.

If all Broder did was compile a list of facts, he wouldn't be writing for the NYT.

Musk is not in that position. He's the CEO of a company, not a writer. I think his argument would have had more impact had he not implied that Broder had a secret agenda.

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

#219

Post by Anechoic »

erichocean wrote: post #155
Anechoic wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

take a good look and explain to any reasonable person how can anybody miss the tesla charging station It was dark (5:45pm), on an I-95 rest stop during rush hour. That parking lot was likely jammed with cars and pedestrians moving around, it's perceivable that someone not familiar with the area could miss it (based on my experience trying to find air pumps at various rest stops).

A great opportunity for someone to visit the rest stop at 5:45pm, during rush hour, and put up a YouTube video of the location. Perhaps it was hard to find. Perhaps it was easy. It'll be obvious with a video, no?

They are gonna have to wait a year since the sun sets later than it did on January 23 (5:03pm vs 5:30pm now: http://www.calendar-365.com/calendar/2013/February.html ).

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

#220

Post by dclowd9901 »

redm wrote: post #211
andrewfelix wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"reads like Broder was trying to stack the deck" I disagree. I think Broder is doing what a lot of journalists do and has accentuated the overall negative experience to create a better narrative. In spite of the poor communication and slight exaggeration, I don't feel like there was malice or a great deal of intent on Broder's behalf. He generally had a poor experience. The errors in his story do not negate that, and…

> In spite of the poor communication and slight exaggeration, I don't feel like there was malice or a great deal of intent on Broder's behalf. He generally had a poor experience. I don't know much about electric cars, but I do know this: They aren't great for long distrance driving. I have no doubt that Broder had a bad experience. When it's 10 degrees outside, I don't want to turn off the climate control. When I'm d…

Right? While everyone's arguing about who's right, I can't help but think this is THE LAST car I'd ever want to take on a long trip. Ten minutes at a station is far longer than I could humanely accept, let alone hours (in a best case scenario no less!). If I ever buy an EV, it'll be a simple grocery getter, and that's it.
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