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Literally the first paragraph of the piece: > He expected to get something close to the electric sport sedan’s advertised driving range: 353 miles on a fully c

Literally the first paragraph of the piece: > He expected to get something close to the electric sport sedan’s advertised driving range: 353 miles on a fully charged battery. > He soon realized he was sometimes getting less than half that much range We’re not talking about a couple of miles here or there. And if Tesla discovered that range issues (even if entirely based around customer perception) were a widespread enough issue to set up a team specifically to address it, that team said nothing publicly and instead cancelled service appointments without explanation… that’s absolutely newsworthy, whether you consider it a “hit piece” or not. > Inside the Nevada team’s office, some employees celebrated canceling service appointments by putting their phones on mute and striking a metal xylophone, triggering applause from coworkers who sometimes stood on desks. The team often closed hundreds of cases a week and staffers were tracked on their average number of diverted appointments per day. I mean... c'mon.

ke88y 3y ago
If the predicted range occasionally decreases by 3km after driving 1km, well, that's the nature of battery discharge models. It's fine. If the predicted range ALWAYS decreases by 3km after driving 1km, then the prediction is bs.
- falcor84 3y ago
  In statistical terminology, I would prefer an "unbiased estimator with low skewness", such that it's as likely to overestimate as underestimate, even if occasionally the estimates are quite far off. But as discussed, manufacturers of course have a strong incentive to make these predictions very biased to overestimate the range.
hot_gril 3y ago
I'd have to see more to believe that people are seriously getting less than half the estimated range. Not one person "sometimes" having an issue. (Moot point anyway cause I'm probably never gonna buy a Tesla.)
Sohcahtoa82 3y ago
> > He soon realized he was sometimes getting less than half that much range Either he has VERY BAD driving habits, or he's driving in some extreme scenarios. I have a Model 3 Performance that's estimated to have a 299 mile range, IIRC. I've driven at 75 mph in 30F weather, and it reduced my range to about 230 miles. That's just shy of 25%, which while is certainly a significant reduction, is not the >50% the guy was dealing with. Do people think they'll get the full EPA range at 70+ mph with the heat or A/C on? I always assumed EPA ranges were done on flat terrain at 60 mph with climate controls off and expected any deviation from that to reduce my range. That all said, getting over 50% less than estimate range is pretty bad, and unless they're driving fast in super cold weather up hill, it really points to a potentially faulty battery that Tesla is trying to get out of replacing.
- unregistereddev 3y ago
  > Do people think they'll get the full EPA range at 70+ mph with the heat or A/C on? That likely depends partly on what car they are coming from. Some manufacturers overstate EPA range, others understate it. If they're coming from a Ford EcoBoost or a 15 year old Hyundai, they probably don't expect to achieve EPA ratings at all. If they're coming from a Toyota or a VW, then yes, they probably do think they'll get the full EPA range at 70+ mph with hvac on. My old Toyota ICE will happily meet the EPA ratings at 70mph with the AC running full blast. If I slow down to 65mph and turn off the AC, I can easily get 10% more range than the EPA estimates would suggest.

ke88y 3y ago

If the predicted range occasionally decreases by 3km after driving 1km, well, that's the nature of battery discharge models. It's fine. If the predicted range ALWAYS decreases by 3km after driving 1km, then the prediction is bs.

falcor84 3y ago
In statistical terminology, I would prefer an "unbiased estimator with low skewness", such that it's as likely to overestimate as underestimate, even if occasionally the estimates are quite far off. But as discussed, manufacturers of course have a strong incentive to make these predictions very biased to overestimate the range.

hot_gril 3y ago

I'd have to see more to believe that people are seriously getting less than half the estimated range. Not one person "sometimes" having an issue. (Moot point anyway cause I'm probably never gonna buy a Tesla.)

Sohcahtoa82 3y ago

> > He soon realized he was sometimes getting less than half that much range Either he has VERY BAD driving habits, or he's driving in some extreme scenarios. I have a Model 3 Performance that's estimated to have a 299 mile range, IIRC. I've driven at 75 mph in 30F weather, and it reduced my range to about 230 miles. That's just shy of 25%, which while is certainly a significant reduction, is not the >50% the guy was dealing with. Do people think they'll get the full EPA range at 70+ mph with the heat or A/C on? I always assumed EPA ranges were done on flat terrain at 60 mph with climate controls off and expected any deviation from that to reduce my range. That all said, getting over 50% less than estimate range is pretty bad, and unless they're driving fast in super cold weather up hill, it really points to a potentially faulty battery that Tesla is trying to get out of replacing.

unregistereddev 3y ago
> Do people think they'll get the full EPA range at 70+ mph with the heat or A/C on? That likely depends partly on what car they are coming from. Some manufacturers overstate EPA range, others understate it. If they're coming from a Ford EcoBoost or a 15 year old Hyundai, they probably don't expect to achieve EPA ratings at all. If they're coming from a Toyota or a VW, then yes, they probably do think they'll get the full EPA range at 70+ mph with hvac on. My old Toyota ICE will happily meet the EPA ratings at 70mph with the AC running full blast. If I slow down to 65mph and turn off the AC, I can easily get 10% more range than the EPA estimates would suggest.