JohnBroder
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Fleet of Tesla Model S owners set out to refute NYT report, coin slang for human error
Between data logs, rebuttals and general drama, it's easy to get confused: can a Tesla Model S make the trek from Washington DC to Connecticut? A small group of Tesla fans decided to see for themselves. Meeting in DC over the weekend, seven drivers from the Tesla Motors Club forums banded together to recreate the reporter's infamous trip to Tesla's Milford Connecticut Supercharger, minus the Manhattan detour. The long and short? The team made the trip successfully, albeit with some minor hiccups. Most of the drivers had no trouble topping off their Tesla's at max range, ensuring they had enough charge to complete each leg of the trip -- but one car stubbornly refused to top off at a Delaware Supercharger. After about an hour of troubleshooting, Tesla pushed a firmware update to the vehicle, found and diagnosed another bug and got the car back on the road. The lesson? A carefully planned electric road trip can lead to success, but technical errors do happen. Even so, the team had no qualms teasing the NYT reporter for his troubles, referring to "Brodering" as the act of running out of power due to human error. All in all, it seems good times were had -- what else could you ask of a weekend excursion? Check out the team's Twitter feed at the adjacent source link for additional driver updates, or check out straßenversion for a passenger account of the trip's first leg. [Thanks, Aravind]
NYT reporter responds to Tesla Model S data logs, impropriety accusations
Data logs of the Model S that left New York Times reporter John Broder stranded revealed a "violation of common sense" according to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, but Broder is now offering his side of the story to help make sense of the information. According to the journalist, he wasn't provided with "detailed instructions on maximizing the driving range" before his trip, and he placed roughly a dozen calls to the folks at Tesla about how he could address the car's declining range and make it to his destination. Apparently, some of the doubt-instilling data was caused by following the advice of Tesla representatives on how to maximize the vehicle's charge. For example, Broder says the auto lost a drastic amount of juice while parked in the cold over night, and a low-power one-hour charge was recommended by Tesla reps in conjunction with driving at a moderate speed to "restore" the lost power. Broder also mentions that he didn't drive around a parking lot to run down the battery, but did so since he couldn't find the poorly-lit and unmarked Supercharger at night. New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan called Musk several times throughout the day and couldn't get ahold of him, but plans to ask the company's founder to open source the logs and other information. Come Friday, Sullivan expects to have some conclusions on the matter. Click the bordering source link to see Broder's entire point-by-point response to the logs for yourself.
Elon Musk produces Model S data logs to disprove New York Times' Tesla review
We liked Tesla's Model S, but some of the other outlets didn't feel the same way. The New York Times' John Broder, for one, described being stranded 25 miles away from the nearest supercharger station. However, after Tesla's litigious run-in with Top Gear, the company keeps detailed vehicle data logs to ensure it gets a fair deal in reviews. Now, Tesla (and SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk has posted the data that, he says, proves Broder wasn't being fair. Musk accuses Broder of pulling the plug on a recharge with just 32 miles range in the tank, despite planning a route of 61 miles "in obvious violation of common sense." He also says the reviewer drove past a public charge station, despite repeated warnings that it was running low, drove the car around at 81mph and "deliberately stopped charging" after shorter and shorter times. Musk finishes by saying that the company was wrong to offer Broder access to the vehicle, as it was "unaware of his outright disdain for electric cars" and asks the New York Times to investigate the review. We suspect this one's going to run-and-run, but we'd better warn the NYT that their opponent does have access to rockets.
