Tesla to New York Times: You're lying, dammit! And I can prove it!!

[Gahars]

Tesla is a car company currently devoted to producing electric cars, with their Model S model (straight from the Department of Redundancy Department) receiving a good deal of publicity. Unfortunately for Tesla, though, the company has something in common with its namesake - getting royally screwed over.

Fortunately for them, those doing the screwing happened to be embarrassingly incompetent.

Tesla has torn into the New York Times review of its Model S electric car, using systems logs showing charge and recharge status, driving style, cabin settings and more to undermine claims the EV is unreliable. In a detailed run-down of the stats gathered by the Model S’ onboard computer – something Tesla says it always does “carefully” on media drives, after UK car show Top Gear made similar reliability claims about a previous model, in a case which ended up in the courtroom - Tesla CEO Elon Musk argues that NYT reviewer John Broder was prejudiced against electric cars from the start, and did as much as possible to portray the Model S as unfit for the road.

...Tesla now says it will not be making further reference to the test drive, as it believes the data run-down “speaks for itself.” Whether it will put Broder behind the wheel for a second attempt, as the NYT author says Musk originally offered, remains to be seen.

Slash Gear

Shocking, I know.

The article lists some of the underhand methods used by Broder (pictured here), ranging from insufficient charging to "driving 'in circles for over half a mile in a tiny, 100-space parking lot.'" In fact, it even appears that despite Broder's claims, his car never actually ran out of battery; the entire story seems to have been pulled straight from his rear exhaust port.

Considering that John Broder has made his disdain for electric vehicles quite public, it appears that his review was an attempt to legitimize his views. So much for objective reporting, eh?

As of right now, the New York Times has refused to comment on the publicity-pileup, and it has yet to retract Broder's review. Considering that Tesla might just have grounds for a libel suit here, expect them to shift gears soon enough.

So yeah. While I know we all have different opinions on clean energy and the like, let's not allow the conversation to get too charged. I think we can all agree that faking a review to validate your preconceived biases is bad - and maybe don't forget that the company-tracked car is, in fact, tracked. That could help.

 

[Foxi4]

EV cars are a danger looming over the entire oil-based industry - they require less maintenance, they're more "intelligently-designed", they're green and they're bad news for the men and women in power - who would've thought that reviews might not always be accurate?

 

[Rydian]

Hah, Wacky Races. A more fitting reference than it initially seemed.

 

[Bladexdsl]

last time I heard tesla was trying to re-build his vampire race

 

[wolffangalchemist]

If people are worried about the environment that much it is easy enough to convert most older cars to run off Hydrogen or use Bio-Diesel anyway.
I much rather put my money into that than a company, on top of the fact you can learn a thing or two from the effort put forth.

 

[Devin]

For a small moment I thought that someone shoot NYT w/ a Tesla gun.

Spoiler

http://warehouse13.wikia.com/wiki/Tesla

 

[Another World]

last time I heard tesla was trying to re-build his vampire race

after he used his magnetic powers to aid magnus so that she would restore his vampire roots. then i do believe he just decided to enjoy being the only one of his "kind".

-another world

 

[DSGamer64]

People still have a fear of the electric car because it will start ruining the fuel powered industry. It has been happening for 30 years, every time the electric car attempts to make it's place in the automotive market, oil companies and the automotive press try to shoot it down. Unfortunately those times are starting to change and even the big auto manufacturers are slowly starting to divert their development resources towards hybrid and alternative fuel technologies.

Oil companies are some of the worst lobbyists in the world, if it wasn't for them, the electric car probably would have become a mainstream vehicle back in the 90's.

 

[dickfour]

Electric cars suck and are expensive. I don't know one person that would waist their money on an electric car. These are basically toys for rich people that are subsidised by the government. Don't listen to me though Toyota's vice president says EVs are not a viable replacement for most vehicles. Reuters just declared electric vehicles dead. Clearly the future of transportation lies in something viable like fuel cells. We'll all look back at solar panels, wind mills, and electric cars years from now and say that was a big mistake and misallocation of resources

 

[Bladexdsl]

Clearly the future of transportation lies in something viable like fuel cells. We'll all look back at solar panels, wind mills, and electric cars years from now and say that was a big mistake and misallocation of resources

yeah and what happens when all the fuel runs out huh? the wells are all drying up

 

[Phoenix Goddess]

Electric cars suck and are expensive. I don't know one person that would waist their money and an electric car. These are basically toys for rich people that are subsidised by the government. Don't listen to me though Toyota's vice president says EVs are not a viable replacement for most vehicles. Reuters just declared electric vehicles dead. Clearly the future of transportation lies in something viable like fuel cells. We'll all look back at solar panels, wind mills, and electric cars years from now and say that was a big mistake and misallocation of resources

You're right, why would they "waist" an electric car?

 

[Qtis]

People still have a fear of the electric car because it will start ruining the fuel powered industry. It has been happening for 30 years, every time the electric car attempts to make it's place in the automotive market, oil companies and the automotive press try to shoot it down. Unfortunately those times are starting to change and even the big auto manufacturers are slowly starting to divert their development resources towards hybrid and alternative fuel technologies.

Actually it's been happening for about a hundred years. It was just the deal in the States (among others IIRC) that oil is just easier to make a huge profit. Basically the oil industry pumped the senate with funds to make it more profitable to develop oil based transports. If we'd have kept developing EVs from the start of the 20th century, we'd have quite efficient engines and combustion would at tops be powering the generator for creating the electricity for the engine compared to the combustion engines used for creating the movement.

I kinda find it funny that people think EVs are a waste of time. I study at a University of Technology and have seen quite a few EV/Hybrid cars due to the Mechanical Engineering department and a friend who is a vehicle reporter for the country's biggest car/tech magazine. Tesla (Roadster IIRC), Fisker Karma, Volt, Prius, etc. are great for driving. If the problem is with long distance, go for a hybrid. Traditional combustion engines have such a bad operating efficiency due to loss of heat in the process, which it's not viable in the long run..

 

[Veho]

CNN journalists make the same trip in similar conditions without a hitch.

 

[Ethevion]

I'm no fan of electric cars, but making a fake review because of that is just bad journalism.

 

[IBNobody]

It's a pissing match now between Tesla and the NYT.

The facts still remain, though, that the car dropped from 90mi to 25mi overnight due to the cold weather. That's a point that Elon Musk glossed over in his attack on the NYT.

If I had a car that did that (and I lived in a colder climate), I'd be stranded all the time. It'd be like having a dead battery in the dead of winter with a conventional car, except it could happen every damn day.

 

[KingVamp]

I'm a fan of ev's. Once they get cheap and get all the problems out, I'll buy one.

 

[IBNobody]

I'm a fan of ev's. Once they get cheap and get all the problems out, I'll buy one.

How cheap is cheap?

 

[Dann Woolf]

EV cars are a danger looming over the entire oil-based industry - they require less maintenance, they're more "intelligently-designed", they're green and they're bad news for the men and women in power - who would've thought that reviews might not always be accurate?

The funny thing is even if the oil industry successfully shuts down every new power source, they're still going to be royally fucked over when the world's oil runs out. That may not happen today, or tomorrow, or next year, but but the time is coming, and when the time does come we need to be prepared. If we stay over-dependent on oil, we're all going to be fucked.

 

[Engert]

All of you who say bad things about Tesla are idiots. All of you.

 

[Veho]

How cheap is cheap?

The price of an internal-combustion-engined car plus, say, two years' worth of gas?