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While I agree that the charging logs are completely damning, I think it's worth pointing out that Broder probably wasn't taking minute-to-minute notes as he dro

While I agree that the charging logs are completely damning, I think it's worth pointing out that Broder probably wasn't taking minute-to-minute notes as he drove (which, as a fellow driver I appreciate). More likely, he simply wrote the relevant portions of the article from what he remembered the night after he drove. Which, in my mind, isn't unreasonable - Elon calling him out to say "Broder never drove 45 mph" when he was driving 52 would seem somewhat nitpicky were it not for the article's inflammatory language.

busterarm 14y ago
He's a journalist. Taking notes is his trade. Journalists are well-accustomed to using voice recorders by now. Heck, most car reviewers videotape everything they do now. I think Elon makes a pretty convincing case that this guy was going out of his way to write a hit piece against the car. No sensible person would drive any car in the manner this reporter did.
- mieubrisse 14y ago
  I absolutely agree with you; there was definitely a contrived scenario going on. However, I also think that Elon's taking a bit of an overzealous approach, especially given his Tweets. I can see where he's coming from - the company's stock did dip after all - but his rebuttal is somewhat inflammatory in my mind as well. Any person able to read a basic graph can see the untruth in Broder's article by looking at the charge graph, and I think that a more cool, professional approach could have given Tesla a very big PR boost as the more mature company in the situation.
  - busterarm 14y ago
    I guess it doesn't bother me that much. I think most of his twitter followers are probably fans and are likely to be taking his side in this anyway. The status quo for car companies is to stay quiet or give vague denials of any kinds of reported issues. Tesla has always been a different kind of car company and this is the reaction that I'd expect. Elon is heavily involved in his product in a way almost all other carmarkers (save for Christian von Koenigsegg) are not. If he wasn't responding to performance accusations passionately, I'd think something was wrong.
  - gizmo 14y ago
    > I think that a more cool, professional approach could have given Tesla a very big PR boost as the more mature company in the situation. That would be the case in a more perfect world. However, rebuttals usually get only a small fraction of the eyeballs of the original piece. So unless you go on an all out war and escalate to an absurd degree nobody will hear of your rebuttal and presume your guilt. This fight is unbelievably lopsided. If Tesla didn't log everything they would have been completely unable to defend themselves. Now that they have logs and can prove what happened they still have to worry about people thinking "where there's smoke there's fire" and they still have to worry about reaching enough people with their rebuttal.
  - cheald 14y ago
    I think the aggressive tone is warranted. Electric cars are still very much looked upon as an oddity, and Tesla has a lot to prove before they can achieve mass-market appeal. One of the most respected newspapers in the country doing a hit piece on their product deserves to be addressed hard and fast - to do any less would be a disservice to his company and to his shareholders. It's arguable that this article could have done Tesla significant financial harm. If I was Musk, I'd go for the kill and demand Broder's head on a platter alongside a published apology from the editor disavowing the review. There's no room for a lukewarm response here - the response needs to be loud, obnoxious, and the fallout needs to be messy to ensure that the rebuttal gets the same coverage as the initial damaging review.
lutusp 14y ago
> I think it's worth pointing out that Broder probably wasn't taking minute-to-minute notes as he drove (which, as a fellow driver I appreciate). If Broder now said, "I must have forgotten a few things", it would instantly end his credibility as a journalist.
stcredzero 14y ago
> Elon calling him out to say "Broder never drove 45 mph" when he was driving 52 would seem somewhat nitpicky The performance of a battery in a piece of equipment is a matter of engineering and empirical fact. Calling a 7 mph difference (over 15%) "nitpicky" indicates a lack of understanding of what it takes to deal with matters of engineering and empirical fact. This is even more true in this particular context, as drag tends to increase with the square of the velocity, which in layman's terms means you get a lot more drag than your increase in speed. A journalist who doesn't understand the above isn't qualified to write an automotive article with any kind of empirical basis. (He can go be like Jeremy Clarkson and emote lots instead.)
- lttlrck 14y ago
  This is a public education issue for Tesla, instead they left to a journalist to educate the public instead: EV's work differently. Job done. Frankly I think Tesla slipped up. BTW. Plenty of ICE cars run more efficiently at higher speeds due to long gearing/overdrive, increased drag or not.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]

busterarm 14y ago

He's a journalist. Taking notes is his trade. Journalists are well-accustomed to using voice recorders by now. Heck, most car reviewers videotape everything they do now. I think Elon makes a pretty convincing case that this guy was going out of his way to write a hit piece against the car. No sensible person would drive any car in the manner this reporter did.

mieubrisse 14y ago
I absolutely agree with you; there was definitely a contrived scenario going on. However, I also think that Elon's taking a bit of an overzealous approach, especially given his Tweets. I can see where he's coming from - the company's stock did dip after all - but his rebuttal is somewhat inflammatory in my mind as well. Any person able to read a basic graph can see the untruth in Broder's article by looking at the charge graph, and I think that a more cool, professional approach could have given Tesla a very big PR boost as the more mature company in the situation.
- busterarm 14y ago
  I guess it doesn't bother me that much. I think most of his twitter followers are probably fans and are likely to be taking his side in this anyway. The status quo for car companies is to stay quiet or give vague denials of any kinds of reported issues. Tesla has always been a different kind of car company and this is the reaction that I'd expect. Elon is heavily involved in his product in a way almost all other carmarkers (save for Christian von Koenigsegg) are not. If he wasn't responding to performance accusations passionately, I'd think something was wrong.
- gizmo 14y ago
  > I think that a more cool, professional approach could have given Tesla a very big PR boost as the more mature company in the situation. That would be the case in a more perfect world. However, rebuttals usually get only a small fraction of the eyeballs of the original piece. So unless you go on an all out war and escalate to an absurd degree nobody will hear of your rebuttal and presume your guilt. This fight is unbelievably lopsided. If Tesla didn't log everything they would have been completely unable to defend themselves. Now that they have logs and can prove what happened they still have to worry about people thinking "where there's smoke there's fire" and they still have to worry about reaching enough people with their rebuttal.
- cheald 14y ago
  I think the aggressive tone is warranted. Electric cars are still very much looked upon as an oddity, and Tesla has a lot to prove before they can achieve mass-market appeal. One of the most respected newspapers in the country doing a hit piece on their product deserves to be addressed hard and fast - to do any less would be a disservice to his company and to his shareholders. It's arguable that this article could have done Tesla significant financial harm. If I was Musk, I'd go for the kill and demand Broder's head on a platter alongside a published apology from the editor disavowing the review. There's no room for a lukewarm response here - the response needs to be loud, obnoxious, and the fallout needs to be messy to ensure that the rebuttal gets the same coverage as the initial damaging review.

lutusp 14y ago

> I think it's worth pointing out that Broder probably wasn't taking minute-to-minute notes as he drove (which, as a fellow driver I appreciate). If Broder now said, "I must have forgotten a few things", it would instantly end his credibility as a journalist.

stcredzero 14y ago

> Elon calling him out to say "Broder never drove 45 mph" when he was driving 52 would seem somewhat nitpicky The performance of a battery in a piece of equipment is a matter of engineering and empirical fact. Calling a 7 mph difference (over 15%) "nitpicky" indicates a lack of understanding of what it takes to deal with matters of engineering and empirical fact. This is even more true in this particular context, as drag tends to increase with the square of the velocity, which in layman's terms means you get a lot more drag than your increase in speed. A journalist who doesn't understand the above isn't qualified to write an automotive article with any kind of empirical basis. (He can go be like Jeremy Clarkson and emote lots instead.)

lttlrck 14y ago
This is a public education issue for Tesla, instead they left to a journalist to educate the public instead: EV's work differently. Job done. Frankly I think Tesla slipped up. BTW. Plenty of ICE cars run more efficiently at higher speeds due to long gearing/overdrive, increased drag or not.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]