Mr. Broder,
My name is Peter, and I recently very successfully completed a very long, cross country trip from Portland OR -> LA -> NOLA -> Atlanta -> NYC in my Model S. I am only a Tesla customer, and have no other affiliation with the company.
It was great disappointment that I read your article today. It showed quite a number of missteps that could have been easily avoided, had Tesla done a better job teaching you about the car beforehand, and not repeatedly given you advice that was not only incorrect, but sometimes counterproductive. There is a learning curve to taking long road trips in an EV, especially in the cold, and it is a shame that Tesla did not better prepare you for this. Your article includes a bit of a postmortem on your trip, but that seems like Tesla again dropped the ball on giving you valuable advice on how you could have made the trip an easy success. Almost all the mistakes I have outlined below, individually, would have eliminated your troubles. If I may, here is my postmortem.
One:
You did not fully charge the car at the Superchargers in Delaware. The Model S has two charge settings, “Standard” and “Max Range”. A Max Range setting will charge up the batteries fully (to the 265 EPA range). It appears you only charged to “Standard” with a range of 242. This setting is on the charge screen. This would have given you about 25 miles extra when arriving at the Superchargers in Milford CT. It should also be noted that you were only 14 miles from the Superchargers in Milford when you ran the car below 0 and needed to be towed.
Two:
You should have been advised by Tesla to plug in to something, anything when stopped overnight in temperatures down to 10 degrees Fahrenheit in Groton. Even a simple standard lamp socket would have eliminated your issues on the second day, and you would have started the day with somewhere between 90-100 miles to start with. I never had any issue finding, and being allowed to use, these on my trip. When charging for driving in the cold, charge whenever you get a chance, (i.e. when you stopped in NYC) even if it’s only for the hour that you are there.
Three:
The answer you got about “Conditioning” the battery when cold is completely incorrect, and simply aided to use up your mileage; In my estimate about 20 miles of range. Simply driving it would have warmed the battery and raised the “available” mileage as you drove. There have been a number of times, when very cold in the mornings, that I arrived at my destination with more range than I started with. Had you not done this, it is very likely that you would have been able to drive directly to the Superchargers in Milford.
Four:
Charge longer. I know this sounds silly now, but you should have charged for longer any number of times. You left Norwich KNOWING that you did not have the rated miles to reach your destination, yet you left anyway! Why anyone at Tesla “cleared” you to leave, and why you thought that heading out in the cold, without the rated mileage to get to your destination would have ended in any way other than poorly is beyond me. You stated that you know driving in cold requires at least 10% more energy, then you should have known that when you left the Superchargers in Milford you had approximately 160 miles round trip, add to this %10 for the cold and you need 176 miles of range. At 185 miles of range you are just setting yourself up for issues making it back, even if you hadn’t stayed the night. Staying just an extra 15 minutes at the Superchargers in Milford would have added almost an extra 70 miles into your car, and eliminated all other issues in your trip even without plugging in that night, and with the cold weather.
Five:
It doesn’t sound like anyone at Tesla informed you of the “Range” climate mode setting on the cars settings page. This would have helped you more than simply turning down the temperature as you did. This along with seat heaters would have done more to keep you comfortable while not reducing your range nearly as much. At the point in your drive that you knew you had real issues, you simply should have turned it off, or stopped by an outlet or EV charger for 20 minutes.
Six:
Don’t run the car down to 0! I don’t understand why anyone at Tesla gave you the impression that you should plan to run the car down to 0 miles left as part of your plan. This is the equivalent to Toyota letting you know that you can keep driving one of their gasoline cars further after you feel some hesitation from the engine running out of gas, “because there really is just a little more in there”. While it might be true, would you ever plan a trip that way?
Seven:
When running low on charge, driving 11 miles in the wrong direction isn’t the smart move. It’s very unfortunate that you were sent 11 miles in the wrong direction to charge when running low. Since it’s the wrong direction, that now becomes 22 miles out of the way round trip, which as it turns out is a greater distance than you where from the Superchargers when you were picked up by the flatbed tow truck (14 miles). Better advice would have been to stop at somewhere like the Old Saybrook Inn which has an EV charger and was on your way, or any RV park many of which were on the way, any of which would, with that hour of charging you took, saved you from the tow truck.
Again, it’s a shame that a lack of knowledge and poor information turned your otherwise easily enjoyable trip into a nerve-racking drive and the need to be towed. I would like to extend you an offer to take another trip with me. We can take the same route, charge at the same locations, and I promise you won’t need your gloves inside the car.
Sincerely,
Peter
Peter,
Seven great points! I agree, Mr. Broder’s situation could have easily been avoided. It seems that Tesla can do better in the future in educating reviewers who are not used to some of the unique aspects of EVs in taking a long road trip.
We took a 600 mile road trip in October in our 24 kWh, 80 mile range EV and our mantra was, “be on the road or be on a wire.” Arrange to eat near a charging station. Call ahead and find a hotel or B&B that has at least a 120v outlet if not a dryer outlet to plug into. Even with superchargers, It takes a bit of knowledge and planning.
Lanny
You are assuming that Mr Broder did not start from the beginning with the intention of writing a negative review, that is what it looks like to me, many auto journos do this to build up credibility
It seems to me that it might be more than curious that Mr. Broder’s article appears the weekend before Tesla is due to report earnings, which the Street says are make or break, after Tesla stock reaches a 52-week high and the stock has the largest Short Interest on NASDAQ. Maybe some of the shorts need to get it down so they can get out before good earnings are reported and the shorts get squeezed. Just sayin’.
it’s incredibly insulting. It is the US stated goal to encourage electric cars, with actual concrete deadlines – and yet apparently NYT has more focus on manufacturing their own problems which don’t exist, not unlike I’d expect fox news to do?
and people wonder why MSM is considered crap: they act like it.
Great analysis. Unfortunately, he’s paid to publish interesting stories, and an uneventful trip doesn’t make for an interesting story this late in the game.
Think he’ll take you up on your offer? I’d take odds against it.
_______
But Peter, my grammarnastiness cringes every time you replace “were” with “where”. It seems burned into your brain!! Drop the haitch. Please?
—–
Think I’ve got all those haitch’s out of there
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i wonder about the Tesla PR decisions. Sure, they were excited when the NYTimes wanted to do a man-in-the-car story, but did the anticipate the downsides?
they knew ahead of time that this is the exact wrong time of year to let the major newspaper take a test drive on the East Coast — it is cold. and they now that the distance between charging stations is not yet optimum.
did they at least insist that writer john broder get some EV driving training? there were some rookie PR mistakes there, and ICE-minded assumptions.
Peter
Your critique was very graciously handled regarding the “test” in cold weather for the Tesla model S.
I would have been a lot more blunt; the driver testing the car was a low grade moron. The article was nothing more then a hit piece of a feeble effort to validate his point of view.
Even 40 years ago when my parents and family traveled between Colorado and the upper middle west we called ahead to make sure the motels we stayed in had outside electrical outlets for block heaters for our carburetor engined cars. We then actually plugged the car in. This authors driving experience with internal combustion engines must go back all of three years.
I won’t ever be able to afford a Tesla model S but look forward to the day when superchargers make trips for those that can traveling across the US seamless.
Ross
Awesome response!
Great response. Hopefully someone at NY Times will take notice.
I would loved to have an 85kWh Tesla last summer when I drove my 24kWh Nissan LEAF electric car over 1800 miles over 8 days, 5 hours, from Mexico to Canada. Funny, but I never once ran out of power!
The same with any gasoline transport machine. You learn and understand the limitations, and operate the vehicle within those limits.
Certainly, I believe at best, Tesla is somewhat to blame for the NYT writer’s situation, but unfortunately, it doesn’t look like he took much effort to truly make the “plan” work.
Anyhoo, I’m sure there will be more “exciting” stories in the future of electric vehicles running out of power, just like there is any time an electric vehicle should catch fire (for any reason).
But, with literally thousands and thousands of gasoline burners doing the same, eh, not so much.
As a model S reservation holder, we are enjoying the show during this discovery period. A long while ago, we went to apple store and the salesperson asked “are you a pioneer or a follower?” My 12 yr old son said “pioneer” and so we left store with an early version of an OS upgrade. It sort of worked as advertised but he stuck with it, mastering the quirks and keeping up with the tech wave. Glad he took that approach because he now works for Tesla and is still proud to be a pioneer. Folks, do we want new tech to win, or are we more content to be snarky short sellers?
This is a good letter. Did you actually send it to him? Or to the NYT for publication?
Yes, I sent it to him directly after reading his article Friday. It breaks NYT’s publication rules, but it is up on plugincars.com
I think that you are greatly trivializing the ease that one can find a 120 volt outlet to plug a car into! I don’t own, not could begin to afford a Tesla, but I own an electric maxi-scooter with approximately 50 miles of range. And even when one can find one of those odd electric outlets on the side of building, planter, light pole or parking garage – and the chances of finding one especially difficult when it is urgently needed the owner of that outlet giving permission to use it are slim. And I seriously doubt such an outlet is ever available at a hotel. If you do find one, you can try to plug in without permission, but you might find it unplugged with an accompanying angry note!
Hey Paul,
I can tell you from lots of personal experience that I’ve never had, or seen, problems when I or a friend needed it. At hotels or businesses or garages I ALWAYS ask. I have never been turned down, though it does usually take a bit of time explaining exactly how the car works, that it really can just plug into the wall, etc. RV parks are another story, and I have a friend that was asked to only use the plug if he really needed it as there was some question at the business as to exactly which meeter the plug ended up on. Perhaps it’s because I’m patronizing those businesses and offering to pay if they would like? Have you received many an angry note?
I haven’t revived an angry note, but I have certainly been told ‘no” when asking, and have had angry parking garage attendants and security guards unplug it or tell me and/or my wife to unplug. Yes I offer to pay and yes, I patronize their business.
I do maintain a “secret list” of places to plug in – typically public parks or municipal-run parking garages – where nobody seems to mind. but these are in more urban settings and the improved range of the newer scooter means that I generally have only been looking to “opportunity charge” at further out suburban locations where outlets seem to be harder to find. There simply never seem to be exterior electric outlets to be found when one needs one except perhaps at the ubiquitous ice freezers at the exterior of convenience stores. But the clerk is never going to risk their job giving permission for someone to plug something into the outlet behind it.
So far, I’ve always managed to get home with only a bit of range anxiety once – but I live in a compact eastern US city.
I also think that someone with an expensive car might get a better reception than my scooter – which seem to almost have a social stigma attached to them.
I appreciate your level-headed response to this vacuous NYT article, showing the thought process we EV-drivers go through when making the (rare) longer trip. I am truly saddened that the NYT article should plant a seed a doubt in the uninformed as to the efficacy of electric vehicles. Lack of education of this innumerate author by Tesla is a lesson they’ve just learned. A point made by my wife after reading the NYT article is that the author left the impression that he could only charge the Tesla at one of their supercharger sites – not realizing that this is the exception rather than the rule.
As a former EV1 leaseholder I can relate to these issues. I commuted 100 miles in my Gen2 vehicle nearly every day for several years, rarely charging anywhere but home, and thoroughly enjoyed the convenience. But half of my battery pack did fade out 2 years into the lease and there were a few weeks there where I would be running with no A/C, slowly on the shoulder of the freeway limping the last mile or tow home before I got GM to replace the NiMH pack. I did occasionally resort to a free boost charge at Costco or Fry’s, but on hot days the heat exchanger in the car was working so hard during charging to cool the battery pack that I would get almost zero net charge state gain.
The stated title of the NYT article was to try Tesla’s “Electric Highway” of superchargers, so I think that there may have been some intentional shying away from any Level 1 or Level 2 standard charge points or 120v outlets. But the author should have been explicit about stating that taking advantage of the many other slow charge points would have solved his problem, albeit with some potential delay at times. And of course Tesla should have pushed him to do so, even knowing that they would be failing the ability to rely solely on their Superchargers.
As others have stated, we are still in a bit of the early adopter environment for BEVs, and Plug-n hybrids (PHEVs) are probably a good bridge for the next few years to get the public educated on plug-in charging while minimizing range anxiety.
I so agree with your points!
Tesla is a young company. They don’t have the depth of expertize in orchestrating a public relations romp with the NYT that, say, GM might have. They will learn from this experience, not doubt.
Driving an electric car requires a different set of actions and responses from what we have been ingrained with from almost 100 years of driving gas-fed cars.
Having the experience of owning gas cars, hybrids and the Volt (as an interim) has made me believe that the electric vehicle is the only answer to peak oil.
I’m sure that many of us have seen the early movie of a Ford pulling itself out of trouble with a rope wound around the axle. Those were the pioneer days of the the gas automobile! Well, here are the pioneer days of the electric automobile….
This NYT Clown acutually drives on our streets.
Maybe he should be doing public transportation stories and leave the real unbised reporting to some one with ethics and common sense.
We should all be safer.
NUFF SAID….