The Tesla Model S electric car may have won MotorTrend Car of the Year in 2012, but it received a disastrous and biting review in the New York Times last week. Now Tesla's founder Elon Musk is fighting back, charging the journalist who wrote the review with lying. And he has data to back up his allegation.
Reporter John Broder test drove a Model S from Washington, D.C. to Connecticut, cataloguing the trip in detail. But his account turned harrowing as, according to Broder, the battery on the Model S ran down faster than anticipated, causing him to stop to find charging stations and eventually stalling out altogether.
Musk says it's all a lie. After an incident with the British television show Top Gear that resulted in a lawsuit, Tesla began installing electronic monitors on Model S sedans they lent out for test drives from journalists. And Musk released an electronic log today in a detailed post that conflicts in marked ways from the account Broder gives in his article.
"I noticed that the estimated range was falling faster than miles were accumulating. At 68 miles since recharging, the range had dropped by 85 miles, and a little mental math told me that reaching Milford would be a stretch," wrote Broder in his review.
I began following Tesla's range-maximization guidelines, which meant dispensing with such battery-draining amenities as warming the cabin and keeping up with traffic. I turned the climate control to low - the temperature was still in the 30s - and planted myself in the far right lane with the cruise control set at 54 miles per hour (the speed limit is 65)."
But detailed charts posted by Tesla show that Broder actually turned the cabin temperature up - to 74 degrees - and drove consistently between 60 and 70 mph, and, at times, as high as 80 mph.
According to Broder, the Model S was a fickle machine, spitting out different range estimates depending on the temperature and revising those estimates in mid-trip, before finally dying on the side of road, requiring Broder to call a flatbed truck.
But the logs say otherwise - the car never died. Musk maintains that Broder did everything he could to try to get the Model S to run out of charge, but couldn't.
"Instead of plugging in the car, he drove in circles for over half a mile in a tiny, 100-space parking lot. When the Model S valiantly refused to die, he eventually plugged it in. On the later legs, it is clear Broder was determined not to be foiled again," writes Musk.
The New York Times has not officially responded to Musk's accusations.
"On #Tesla: I'm on it, as they say. May take some time. Meanwhile, look for a point-by-point response on Wheels blog soon. #nytimes," tweeted Margaret Sullivan, the New York Times public editor.
Musk's allegations are serious, and fueled by the ire of someone who's been burned before. The logs seem damning, so Broder will need to have a pretty good explanation for them. But Musk certainly isn't helping his cause with his fiery language, and some of his non-review-related accusations seem a bit overblown.
Musk contends Broder has it out for electric cars. Broder is not the Times' usual car reviewer, and some of his past articles do speak critically of the electric car industry, but there's no point in assailing his motives, at least not yet.
Still, something is going on, and the entire truth isn't out yet. Until more information is available, both the media and the public should refrain from taking sides, no matter their proclivities.
Of course, it shouldn't be long before the data reveals who is right, and who is lying.
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