Let's start from the beginning.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk invited the New York Times to appoint a journalist for a test drive of the critically acclaimed Tesla Model S all-electric vehicle. The aim intended to conduct a long-distance road trip that will not only showcase the everyday drivability of the Tesla Model S sedan, but to also introduce the new, quick-charging "Supercharger" network that had recently been installed along the East Coast.
However, the way New York Times writer John Broder describes it, the test drive did not go as planned. Broder said he was stranded on the side of the road. During the trip, the Tesla Model S drained its battery and failed to deliver the range it promised during cold weather conditions.
"But the Model S had other ideas," described Broder in his Feb. 10 article. "'Car is shutting down,' the computer informed me. I was able to coast down an exit ramp in Branford, Conn., before the car made good on its threat."
When CEO Elon Musk first learned about Broder's eventful road test, he called the reporter and apologized for any inconvenience the trip may have caused. Musk also promised to carry out an investigation to understand why the vehicle died.
However, Elon Musk was soon convinced that John Broder fabricated the drive and wanted the Tesla to run out of power on the side of the road all along.
On Feb. 11, Elon Musk posted on Twitter:
NYTimes article about Tesla range in cold is fake. Vehicle logs tell true story that he didn't actually charge to max & took a long detour.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2013
Defending his account, John Broder countered.
"My account was not a fake. It happened just the way I described it."
Then Broder went on the attack in an article published Feb. 12.
"Now that Tesla is striving to be a mass-market automaker, it cannot realistically expect all 20,000 buyers a year (the Model S sales goal) to be electric-car acolytes who will plug in at every Walmart stop."
As Marcus Burnett (played by Martin Lawrence) from "Bad Boys" would say, "Sh** just got real." Elon Musk responded with the following tweets to settle things once and for all:
Tesla blog coming soon detailing what actually happened on Broder's NYTimes "range test". Also lining up other journalists to do same drive.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2013
Tesla data logging is only turned on with explicit written permission from customers, but after Top Gear BS, we always keep it on for media.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 11, 2013
"Tesla blog coming soon detailing what actually happened on Broder's NYTimes 'range test.' Also lining up other journalists to do same drive."
"Tesla data logging is only turned on with explicit written permission from customers, but after Top Gear BS, we always keep it on for media."
This morning, Elon Musk finally released the highly anticipated data logs from John Broder's drive -- a full report, complete with graphical charts as supporting evidence. In order to deliver the information as clearly as possible, Elon Musk broke down a list of key facts that were retrieved from the data log:
- As the State of Charge log shows, the Model S battery never ran out of energy at any time, including when Broder called the flatbed truck.
- The final leg of his trip was 61 miles and yet he disconnected the charge cable when the range display stated 32 miles. He did so expressly against the advice of Tesla personnel and in obvious violation of common sense.
- Cruise control was never set to 54 mph as claimed in the article, nor did he limp along at 45 mph. Broder in fact drove at speeds from 65 mph to 81 mph for a majority of the trip and at an average cabin temperature setting of 72 F.
- At the point in time that he claims to have turned the temperature down, he in fact turned the temperature up to 74 F.
Read the full Elon Musk report from Tesla Blog HERE.
What was initially intended to be a straightforward test drive had evolved into a mounting scandal that threatened both the reputation of Tesla Motors as well as the journalistic integrity of the New York Times. Broder has yet to publically address Elon Musk's latest report but it certainly seems like Musk has put Broder into checkmate. In a tweet posted earlier this morning, Broder stated:
.@elonmusk's latest comments on my Tesla test drive: bit.ly/XB0SX5. Our response will be at nyti.ms/X7Bhrt later today.
— John Broder (@jbrodernyt) February 14, 2013
Some readers might assume that the strong reactions from both parties are blowing out of proportion what is otherwise just a weekend drive. This is not true. For Elon Musk, every negative article and every small victory concerning range anxiety is capable of causing strong tides that will rock the young and growing electric vehicle industry.
To learn more about the vehicle logs from John Broder's trip, be sure to read Broder's complete Feb. 10 article and to study Elon Musk's full report.
Finally, check out the graphed and charted logs of John Broder's Tesla Model S in the diagrams below.
