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Instead of stopping at the Metz supercharger like the onboard navigation[1] would tell her to, this reporter with an axe to grind decides to do stupid things li

Instead of stopping at the Metz supercharger like the onboard navigation[1] would tell her to, this reporter with an axe to grind decides to do stupid things like charging to 100% to make a clickbaity article. [1] Web version: https://www.tesla.com/trips/#/?v=MS_2017_100D&o=Paris,%20France_Paris%20Paris%20Île-de-France@48.856614,2.3522219000000177&s=&d=Mannheim,%20Germany_MA%20KA%20BW@49.4874592,8.466039499999965 https://www.tesla.com/trips/#/?v=MS_2017_100D&o=Paris,%20Fra...

iknowstuff 8y ago
To be fair, her car had a smaller range, so this is more like it: https://www.tesla.com/trips/#/?v=MX_2017_75D&o=Paris,%20France_Paris%20Paris%20%C3%8Ele-de-France@48.856614,2.3522219000000177&s=&d=Mannheim,%20Germany_MA%20KA%20BW@49.4874592,8.466039499999965 https://www.tesla.com/trips/#/?v=MX_2017_75D&o=Paris,%20Fran...
dkonofalski 8y ago
Yeah... and whoever told her to make as many little charging stops as possible was clearly also out to misinform her. The Tesla manual specifically says to leave your car plugged in and charge it all the way. You're not supposed to worry about that kind of stuff. Just plug it in and leave it charging until it tells you to stop.
- gamblor956 8y ago
  Really? Because the advice I keep hearing about Teslas is exactly the opposite: don't charge your car all the way; only let it charge somewhere between 66-80ish percent if you want to maximize battery life. Can't be surprised that she's confused about it.
  - wingworks 8y ago
    It was a rental though, why would she be worried about maximizing the battery. I'd say most people who rent will do whatever will give them the best results for there trip.
    - gamblor956 8y ago
      My response was to the generic advice about charging Teslas. In this specific case, the author did attempt to charge to full when possible, but at the one stop where she ate during the day it would have taken too long so she kept going. Also, to note--she was specifically trying not to use Superchargers because the point was to see what the charging experience was like for EVs in general, not Tesla in specific. The author chose the Tesla because it had the longest range of EVs available to rent in her area. The article was not specifically about driving a Tesla. The editor chooses the title. The author wrote an article about a generic EV roadtrip experience in Europe. The editor made it seem like it was specifically about Teslas.
  - int_19h 8y ago
    Wasn't Tesla supposed to be doing it itself, with the upper limit on battery charge specifically picked to maximize its life?
  - dkonofalski 8y ago
    The car manages that automatically. By default, the car is set to not charge past 80% (what Tesla calls the "daily capacity"). You can go into the battery settings and set it to 100% ("trip capacity") which gives you extended range but takes longer to charge (both at home and at Superchargers). The Tesla manual specifically says to leave the car plugged in any time you're not using it and let the on-board energy systems figure out when it should be charging and when it shouldn't be. Every Tesla has a bypass where it will use the energy from the charger to power the systems in the vehicle without needing to charge it. Some other EV's charge the battery and then run the systems off the battery which results in a continual power draw/charge cycle which can shorten the battery life. You don't need to worry about that in a Tesla.
mertd 8y ago
It reads very similar to the infamous NYT review[1]. [1] https://nyti.ms/W3HSCZ https://nyti.ms/W3HSCZ [2] Tesla's response: https://www.tesla.com/blog/most-peculiar-test-drive https://www.tesla.com/blog/most-peculiar-test-drive
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- blackbrokkoli 8y ago
  Holy shit! Did this have consequences?
  - gamblor956 8y ago
    Tesla's response turned off a lot of potential customers who realized that Tesla would go through their trip logs if they made even the slightest critical comment of the company. Oh, you meant to the NYT? No, because they were just driving the car like a normal person would. They weren't trying to drive the car [like] a Tesla fanatic would, and it was bizarre for Tesla to go after them for trying to drive the car like a normal car...especially when Tesla spends so much marketing $$$ trying to convince people their cars can replace a normal car.
    - Tade0 8y ago
      I remember that case and I don't think a "normal person" drives around the parking lot in circles when the range indicator shows zero.
      - gamblor956 8y ago
        I just re-read the NY article and the normal person did not at any point drive circles around in the parking lot when the range indicator was zero. They were told by the Tesla mechanic to "recondition" their car because the range indicator wasn't working, which in the NYT article was him sitting in the parking lot for half an hour. As Tesla's own mechanics on the scene indicated that the car was malfunctioning, Tesla's subsequent PR statement has absolutely no value whatsoever and cannot be relied upon as an accurate statement of what the NYT driver did. Because Tesla's own people, on the scene, indicated that the Tesla software wasn't working, which means that the data Tesla used to "refute" the NYT article was simply untrustworthy, bad data.
danso 8y ago
From Paris to Metz is roughly 205 miles. Her car had a range of 215 miles and she notes that the onboard estimates have been off "by at least 10 percent every time". But you're telling me that the navigation would still recommend her to attempt that kind of leg, in an area where chargers may be sparse? Seems like bad UI/UX.
- zerocrates 8y ago
  The parent posted a trip plan for a longer-range configuration. Switch to a smaller battery and... it shows a stop more or less right where the author's first planned stop was. The dialogue on all sides around Teslas is so exhausting. This article isn't even about Tesla, really.
  - danso 8y ago
    I agree that maybe this article would have been better suited if its headline was about how renting a Tesla for a tryout on a road trip is not a good idea (having never rented a car, I have no idea the lifestyle of people who rent when going on long leisure trips). It seems like many of her problems would have long been figured out by Tesla owners. But her complaints seem like the kind I would have if I were to try out a Tesla for fun -- I could definitely see myself underestimating how much research I need to do to properly plan a trip, compared to how little I have to plan when driving a gas guzzler. Obviously things will get better when infrastructure continues to improve, but unless Tesla is marketing its rentals as beta products, I don't think it's unfair to point out the limitations in the experience is as a paying customer today. And as far as this being an indictment of EV in general, and how the author shouldn't have singled out Tesla. I thought it was more or less accepted that Tesla is the top-of-the-line EV brand. I agree this article applies to the EV experience in general -- and as a layperson, I'd want to hear what it's like for the car brand that I am far and away the most familiar with. If she had chosen a non-Tesla brand and written the same complaints, I have a feeling Tesla fans would complain how the author tarnished EV -- and by association, Tesla -- and thus how irresponsible she is for talking shit about EVs without trying a Tesla.
    - 8y ago
btian 8y ago
But many Tesla shorts like Greenlight Capital and Kynikos pay Bloomberg $30k/year/seat for their terminals. It would make perfect sense to tailor their reporting to their customer's taste. Working as intended I suppose.
- carlivar 8y ago
  You forgot to post how many funds long Tesla also have Bloomberg terminals. Or are we just doing anecdotes? The plural of anecdote is not data.
golfer 8y ago
God forbid anyone say anything wrong about Tesla ever. Must be a conspiracy article funded by Big Oil, Big Auto, the Koch bros, etc etc.
- draw_down 8y ago
  Seriously.

iknowstuff 8y ago

To be fair, her car had a smaller range, so this is more like it: https://www.tesla.com/trips/#/?v=MX_2017_75D&o=Paris,%20France_Paris%20Paris%20%C3%8Ele-de-France@48.856614,2.3522219000000177&s=&d=Mannheim,%20Germany_MA%20KA%20BW@49.4874592,8.466039499999965 https://www.tesla.com/trips/#/?v=MX_2017_75D&o=Paris,%20Fran...

dkonofalski 8y ago

Yeah... and whoever told her to make as many little charging stops as possible was clearly also out to misinform her. The Tesla manual specifically says to leave your car plugged in and charge it all the way. You're not supposed to worry about that kind of stuff. Just plug it in and leave it charging until it tells you to stop.

gamblor956 8y ago
Really? Because the advice I keep hearing about Teslas is exactly the opposite: don't charge your car all the way; only let it charge somewhere between 66-80ish percent if you want to maximize battery life. Can't be surprised that she's confused about it.
- wingworks 8y ago
  It was a rental though, why would she be worried about maximizing the battery. I'd say most people who rent will do whatever will give them the best results for there trip.
  - gamblor956 8y ago
    My response was to the generic advice about charging Teslas. In this specific case, the author did attempt to charge to full when possible, but at the one stop where she ate during the day it would have taken too long so she kept going. Also, to note--she was specifically trying not to use Superchargers because the point was to see what the charging experience was like for EVs in general, not Tesla in specific. The author chose the Tesla because it had the longest range of EVs available to rent in her area. The article was not specifically about driving a Tesla. The editor chooses the title. The author wrote an article about a generic EV roadtrip experience in Europe. The editor made it seem like it was specifically about Teslas.
- int_19h 8y ago
  Wasn't Tesla supposed to be doing it itself, with the upper limit on battery charge specifically picked to maximize its life?
- dkonofalski 8y ago
  The car manages that automatically. By default, the car is set to not charge past 80% (what Tesla calls the "daily capacity"). You can go into the battery settings and set it to 100% ("trip capacity") which gives you extended range but takes longer to charge (both at home and at Superchargers). The Tesla manual specifically says to leave the car plugged in any time you're not using it and let the on-board energy systems figure out when it should be charging and when it shouldn't be. Every Tesla has a bypass where it will use the energy from the charger to power the systems in the vehicle without needing to charge it. Some other EV's charge the battery and then run the systems off the battery which results in a continual power draw/charge cycle which can shorten the battery life. You don't need to worry about that in a Tesla.

mertd 8y ago

It reads very similar to the infamous NYT review[1]. [1] https://nyti.ms/W3HSCZ https://nyti.ms/W3HSCZ [2] Tesla's response: https://www.tesla.com/blog/most-peculiar-test-drive https://www.tesla.com/blog/most-peculiar-test-drive

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
blackbrokkoli 8y ago
Holy shit! Did this have consequences?
- gamblor956 8y ago
  Tesla's response turned off a lot of potential customers who realized that Tesla would go through their trip logs if they made even the slightest critical comment of the company. Oh, you meant to the NYT? No, because they were just driving the car like a normal person would. They weren't trying to drive the car [like] a Tesla fanatic would, and it was bizarre for Tesla to go after them for trying to drive the car like a normal car...especially when Tesla spends so much marketing $$$ trying to convince people their cars can replace a normal car.
  - Tade0 8y ago
    I remember that case and I don't think a "normal person" drives around the parking lot in circles when the range indicator shows zero.
    - gamblor956 8y ago
      I just re-read the NY article and the normal person did not at any point drive circles around in the parking lot when the range indicator was zero. They were told by the Tesla mechanic to "recondition" their car because the range indicator wasn't working, which in the NYT article was him sitting in the parking lot for half an hour. As Tesla's own mechanics on the scene indicated that the car was malfunctioning, Tesla's subsequent PR statement has absolutely no value whatsoever and cannot be relied upon as an accurate statement of what the NYT driver did. Because Tesla's own people, on the scene, indicated that the Tesla software wasn't working, which means that the data Tesla used to "refute" the NYT article was simply untrustworthy, bad data.

danso 8y ago

From Paris to Metz is roughly 205 miles. Her car had a range of 215 miles and she notes that the onboard estimates have been off "by at least 10 percent every time". But you're telling me that the navigation would still recommend her to attempt that kind of leg, in an area where chargers may be sparse? Seems like bad UI/UX.

zerocrates 8y ago
The parent posted a trip plan for a longer-range configuration. Switch to a smaller battery and... it shows a stop more or less right where the author's first planned stop was. The dialogue on all sides around Teslas is so exhausting. This article isn't even about Tesla, really.
- danso 8y ago
  I agree that maybe this article would have been better suited if its headline was about how renting a Tesla for a tryout on a road trip is not a good idea (having never rented a car, I have no idea the lifestyle of people who rent when going on long leisure trips). It seems like many of her problems would have long been figured out by Tesla owners. But her complaints seem like the kind I would have if I were to try out a Tesla for fun -- I could definitely see myself underestimating how much research I need to do to properly plan a trip, compared to how little I have to plan when driving a gas guzzler. Obviously things will get better when infrastructure continues to improve, but unless Tesla is marketing its rentals as beta products, I don't think it's unfair to point out the limitations in the experience is as a paying customer today. And as far as this being an indictment of EV in general, and how the author shouldn't have singled out Tesla. I thought it was more or less accepted that Tesla is the top-of-the-line EV brand. I agree this article applies to the EV experience in general -- and as a layperson, I'd want to hear what it's like for the car brand that I am far and away the most familiar with. If she had chosen a non-Tesla brand and written the same complaints, I have a feeling Tesla fans would complain how the author tarnished EV -- and by association, Tesla -- and thus how irresponsible she is for talking shit about EVs without trying a Tesla.
  - 8y ago

btian 8y ago

But many Tesla shorts like Greenlight Capital and Kynikos pay Bloomberg $30k/year/seat for their terminals. It would make perfect sense to tailor their reporting to their customer's taste. Working as intended I suppose.

carlivar 8y ago
You forgot to post how many funds long Tesla also have Bloomberg terminals. Or are we just doing anecdotes? The plural of anecdote is not data.

golfer 8y ago

God forbid anyone say anything wrong about Tesla ever. Must be a conspiracy article funded by Big Oil, Big Auto, the Koch bros, etc etc.

draw_down 8y ago
Seriously.