That being said, there s a lot to the reporter s story that doesn t quite add up, and there s a lot

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Pull up a chair, get some popcorn. The fireworks have been flying fast and furious. New York Times reporter John Broder wrote a piece about his press loaner Tesla running out of juice . Tesla, already smarting branson mo lodging valentine specials from the perceived slight branson mo lodging valentine specials given them by BBC's Top Gear, decided they needed an ace up their sleeve: data logging . Chairman Elon Musk penned a response that included detailed data logs from the press car . Broder responded in general terms  and then with a point-by-point response to Musk s charges . The NYT s public editor, Margaret Sullivan, has also chimed in with the opening of her own investigation . Notably, Musk hasn t returned her calls. Her tentative conclusion? I reject Mr. Musk's central contention that Mr. Broder's Sunday piece was faked in order to sabotage the Model S or the electric-car industry. She also called for Tesla to release all the data they ve got in proper machine-readable form, not just their pretty annotated branson mo lodging valentine specials graphs with the circles and the arrows and the paragraph on the back of each one.
Readers are welcome branson mo lodging valentine specials to read all the back and forth and come to their own conclusion. You can read lots of smart technical people trying to reconcile both stories at this Hacker News thread . The AtlanticWire has a reasonably concise pro-Broder analysis if you don t want to wade through branson mo lodging valentine specials a comment thread. Also, Consumer Report s recent branson mo lodging valentine specials article  and  members of the independent-of-Tesla owner s forum  seem to be corroborating branson mo lodging valentine specials some of the cold-weather battery issues raised by Broder s original piece.
Instead of going any further down that path, let s instead talk some more about this data logging business. The Tesla Model S has the capability of logging everything about the car: it's GPS location, velocity, even the settings on the AC/heating system. Musk noted, in a tweet , that "Tesla data logging is only turned on with explicit written permission from customers, but after Top Gear BS, we always keep it on for media." How nice.
On the one hand, bully for Tesla. As Jack Baruth has often noted, car reviewers are often not particularly good car drivers, and this gives Tesla the opportunity to correct the record. On the other hand Tesla is working to destroy the career of a seasoned journalist branson mo lodging valentine specials based on their interpretation of the evidence in these logs. It s heady stuff that might give any other car reviewer a moment of pause. We believe that journalists sign something acknowledging that Tesla is watching them. But everybody else is cool, right? Let's talk about the privacy implications.
branson mo lodging valentine specials Say you're a Tesla owner, you enable the data logging feature, and then you let your teenage kid drive the car without you around. Does she have an expectation of privacy? Should she? Okay, now you give your car to one of the valet parking stands which many trendy restaurants force you to use these days. The valet takes your car for a joyride and you've branson mo lodging valentine specials got the data. (Amusingly, the Tesla Roadster had a valet mode to diffuse exactly this concern, but the Model S doesn't seem to.) Those are easy cases. How about your insurance company or a car rental company? Maybe they offer you a discount for driving sedately and providing them with the data. Or maybe they require data logging access, particularly if you've got a less than stellar driving record. Drive your car more than 10 mph over the speed limit and lose your coverage? Some companies already offer variations on this sort of usage-based insurance , but Tesla's data logging branson mo lodging valentine specials facility enables it to go to quite a different level. One step further: can a court order subpoena your data? The possibilities are endless. Hacker types might also imagine protecting their privacy by modifying branson mo lodging valentine specials the car to falsify these records. Criminal branson mo lodging valentine specials types might see this as a way to generate an alibi. Heck, unethical car manufacturers could even falsify branson mo lodging valentine specials these records to falsely impugn negative reviewers. Write a positive review or risk your career!
I don't want to pick on Tesla too much. Any car with a modern telematics system (GM OnStar, branson mo lodging valentine specials etc.) already branson mo lodging valentine specials has the facilities to support remote data logging. Let's just hope Tesla gets more of these cars into reviewers' hands. That's the scientific method at play: results should be repeatable. If there's a real problem, it can and should be discovered by having more eyes looking at it. CNN has already set out with another Tesla . More on this story as it develops.
For press cars, I believe it s fully acceptable to log what goes on. Remember branson mo lodging valentine specials NBC s rigging of GM trucks branson mo lodging valentine specials to catch on fire in side collisions just for the camera? Just for their story? Many in the media are trustworthy, and I m sure, some are not.
Jason Blair was the best. Not only he completely fabricated his postings, but he was able to get away with it because of his skin color. Racism and lies, the New York Times way. Now even if they catch Tesla red-handed at some kind of mischief with battery life or safety, their history branson mo lodging valentine specials of lies is going to damage their credibility.
He was even nominated for a Pulitzer prize based on a story that had significant embellishments if not out right lies. Additionally, Mr. Kelley used friends and acquaintances as confidential sources branson mo lodging valentine specials and even went as far as writing scripts for them.
This seems like a case where both sides are playing fast-and-loose with the facts. The NYT writer has displayed a disdain for EVs in other articles prior to the Tesla one, and his personal bias seems to have, at the very least, muddled some of the facts with his piece.
I wonder though, how many Model T owners constantly ran out of petrol in the early days of the mass market branson mo lodging valentine specials automobile? It surely got some taking used to, though every time a Model T ran out of gas it surely wasn t written down for posterity as seems to happen with the Model S.
To be honest, this story isn t all that interesting to me. I d still much rather see the data from the infamous Motor Trend/Cadillac ATS accident a case which makes a VERY strong argument for data logging any journalistic test drive.
There s a lot of hubris at stake in this pissing match. Fact is though, I remember back in the old days when our cellphones featured easily removed batteries that could be swapped and recharged on easily. The problem occurred when you had your phone in your office and your spare fully-charged battery was in your car. But then your car was outside and your battery got cold.
Meanwhile, in your office, meeting whatever, you used your phone and it ran out of energy. So out you go to your car, get your cold battery that was fully charged, and because it s cold, it s out of electricity. What the heck? It was fully charged?!!?
Readers of a certain age will know what I m talking about. It was cold for the East Coast when the drive occurred. One other thing, Drivers of a certain age will recall a time when Europeans couldn t make air-conditioning for shit. In fact, the only cars that had aircon that was capable of handling a US summer in the South was Rolls-Royce, but only because they were using AC/Delco aircon. branson mo lodging valentine specials It really wasn t until the mid-1980s branson mo lodging valentine specials that the Euros figured it out, but Euros, branson mo lodging valentine specials being Euros didn t need A/C like we Southern Yanks did. So my point is, do you really think an upstart California car company is going to have battery temperatures sorted out? Most Tesla customers won t experience the cold inside the car like this unit did. If you can afford $100k worth of car, it s in a garage. It s not parked on a street overnight.
That being said, there s a lot to the reporter s story that doesn t quite add up, and there s a lot to Tesla s responses that don t look favorable either. From my perspective, both parties and organizations end up looking branson mo lodging valentine specials foolish. I think the NYTimes reporter should pursue other interests. He s proved he s not up to the task of reporting something as simple as a test drive.
Broder wanted to confirm a bias that EVs can t handle winter, CNN driving 2 journos, running the same test run the same week finishes branson mo lodging valentine specials with about 96 miles spare. Which do think represents branson mo lodging valentine specials realistic use?
When it s all said and done, this little contretemps will have done its purpose and that s getting exposure for both the NYT and Tesla. branson mo lodging valentine specials As they say in Hollywood, there s no such thing as bad publicity. Tesla is a very niche vehicle and I doubt anyone seriously branson mo lodging valentine specials thinking of getting one will be put off by this.
Driving an EV into a subfreezing temperatures is simply asking for trouble, I m not surprised by the outcome. Perhaps more EV testing needs to be done in Arctic conditions, despite the logistical branson mo lodging valentine specials challenges.
Unfortunately, you simply cannot give Tesla a pass just because the author drove in freezing temperatures. Driving in cold weather, driving with cargo, driving with a spouse who wants the heat cranked to 80 even though its 60 out, driving up steep inclines these are all realities of day to day driving.
The reality is that to drive an EV requires too much forethought, planning, accomodation and variables that completely muck up your assumptions: temperature, terrain, driving style, cargo weight, etc.
You simply should not have to call for support or get tips on driving to maximize your range. For those who are early adopters this probably won t be too much of a problem or inconvenience, but this will relegate EVs to a niche market for certain.
And for any drives under 200 miles, you save a lot of money in fuel driving a Tesla. It costs about 20% the cost of regular cars, and all non-fuel expenses are much lower (brake pads, no oil changes, etc).
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