Yesterday, New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan posted her findings on the ongoing spat between Times writer John Broder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk over a now infamous test drive of the Tesla Model S. (In case you missed it: Broder attempted to drive the EV from D.C. to Milford, Conn., using only Tesla's network of Supercharger stations. It died on the way back. Musk called the test "fake" on Twitter, then wrote a blog post with trip data to support his claims.)
While Sullivan acknowledges the discrepancies between Broder's account and Tesla's data, namely cruise control speeds and climate control settings, she takes issue with Broder's decision-making along the way. "Decisions he made at a crucial juncture?when he recharged the Model S in Norwich, Conn., a stop forced by the unexpected loss of charge overnight?were certainly instrumental in this saga?s high-drama ending," she writes. Yet while Sullivan found Broder's reporting to be sloppy, she is "convinced that he took on the test drive in good faith, and told the story as he experienced it."
Before Sullivan published her findings on Monday, Broder released his own point-by-point response to Tesla's data-driven blog post. Broder said that his alleged attempt to kill the Model S by driving in circles at the Milford rest station was merely him trying to find the charger. More importantly, he says, after he charged to 28 percent the next morning, Tesla cleared him to leave before the leg of the trip in which the car ultimately ran out of power. Musk later argued that Broder did the opposite, and failed to listen to Tesla personnel.
Over the weekend, journalists and even Model S owners recreated Broder's trip, driving from D.C. to Boston at the behest of Tesla. CNN finished the road trip from D.C. to Boston with no complications. The group of Model S owners made it, too, though Tesla had to "push multiple versions of beta software onto one owner's car multiple times?after calling Tesla's support line and working in close tandem with a software developer?to get it to fully charge. As Sullivan points out, however, these subsequent tests drove through much milder temperatures, a factor which can affect the range estimates of the Model S heavily.
Although she doesn't get into specific examples herself?"I don't think that's useful here"?Sullivan acknowledges that both sides will go on debating and concludes that "there is still plenty to argue about and few conclusions that are unassailable."
There's no clear "winner" in this debacle. Broder might have been sloppy in his reporting?at least when comported to the incredible accuracy of Tesla's on-board data recorders?and it opened him up to criticism. Meanwhile, Tesla might have overplayed its hand when it asserted there was actual malice on the part of the Times. The reality of driving the Model S seems to fall in the middle of the two sides' takes: You can cruise up and down the east coast in a Tesla, but you've got to be on guard and watching the car's range constantly?it isn't as comfortably mindless as a road trip in an average car.
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