[OGinparadise]

The problem I have with "he made it up": unless you have a computer keeping track of miles, speed and temperature, you are going to be "lying" about it. For example, I could easily say that I was riding at 67 mph but the computer point out that I actually went as high as 72, as low as 52 a lot of the time. Was I lying? Who the hell is going to remember or write about every speed change on a 500 mile trip? Was it a scientific study or a review for the average user to understand? But let's look at the big picture: I, personally, would NOT want a car that is so specific about the speed, cabin temperature and so on, or call a tow truck because the battery died out on you. 45 mph or 52mph, it's the same crap to me.

Tesla, thanks to the tracking, may have every tiny detail, but their users generally agreed with the reviewer--at a Tesla site forum no less.

Restaurant reviewer: Service was great but the food took an hour to arrive!

Restaurant owner: He is a liar, food was on the table with 50 minutes and I have order slips to prove him wrong.

Me: underwhelmed at the "evidence," 50min and an hour is essentially the same to me when waiting for food to arrive and I didn't expect the reviewer to hold a chronowatch.

[waterlesscloud]

If you don't remember exact details, you shouldn't give exact details in your report.

He could easily have given round estimates, but he made the choice to appear more precise.

His choice, his error.

[jlgreco]

> I, personally, would NOT want a car that is so specific about the speed, cabin temperature and so on

If you fill a ICE car up with less gas you need to get to your destination and attempt to make it anyway, you are going to need to be just as particular about your technique.

This should not be a news flash to anybody who has ever driven.

[OGinparadise]

If you fill a ICE car up with less gas you need to get to your destination and attempt to make it anyway, you are going to need to be just as particular about your technique.

Bad analogy, this http://www.statisticbrain.com/gas-station-statistics/ says that they are 121,446 gas stations in USA. It takes 5 minutes to add fuel for another 300 or so miles and they accept credit cards :)

[jlgreco]

Oh no, it is a perfect analogy. He stopped filling it up, and he and you act stunned when the car doesn't move as far as he wills it. Hell, is this even an analogy? It's just the same fucking thing.

If you want to make the point that charging takes to long, or that there are not enough chargers, go right ahead. It is pretty easy to make that point convincingly without resorting to intellectually dishonest bullshit about the car requiring hypermiling techniques.

[ricardobeat]

Oops. Look at the map at the end of Musk's post. There were dozens of third-party stations in his route, the reviewer just didn't want to use them.

[grecy]

> 45 mph or 52mph, it's the same crap to me.

In Australia, you'll get a $100 speeding ticket for going 7MPH over the limit. You need to drive more carefully.

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/usingroads/penalties/speeding.html

[CamperBob2]

Next time the New York Times tests a car in Australia, I'm sure your tip will come in handy.

[tomrod]

This is a law I could get behind. People regularly go 15 MPH over where I live--which is unsafe on the specific road I have in mind.

The road is not a personal time transport no matter how late you are!

[grecy]

In Australia you'll lose your license on the spot for ~19MPH over. (actually 30 km/h)

[DanBC]

When you say you are limping along at 45 mph you shouldn't be driving at over 50 mph.

> 45 mph or 52mph, it's the same crap to me.

Would that work with traffic police?

[ksherlock]

Some states have official tolerances codified into law, usually 5-10 mph, depending on the posted speed, road, how the speed was measured, etc.

http://www.mit.edu/~jfc/laws.html

[OGinparadise]

Would that work with traffic police?

who cares, but usually yes, at least in US (you go fast, you slow, fast...and police are looking for the worst offender) . My point is: a car that has to be driven with a gazillion, million, billion specific instructions or else it's a brick, maybe it isn't for me or many others. "Your car died and you're in the middle of nowhere because you went 5mph over the recommended by Tesla speed," isn't for me. Isn't this an expensive car too?

[bigiain]

No, the car died because it clearly didn't get charged adequately.

I find people's claims that the car is somehow "inadequate" because it needs a full charge every 200 miles to be strange. I guess probably because I ride a motorcycle which gets pretty much exactly that range from a tank, and when I'm riding I've always go a pretty good idea of how much further I can go, and while I'm on a long trip I've always got in my head not only the furthest possibles fuel stop I could make, but also the "sensible" stop before that - on the off chance tha the max-range fuel stop is closed or empty. (and that happened a few weekends ago the other way round - my intended "second last" fuel stop had a blackout so the pumps weren't working, so I safely made it ~20 miles to the next town. No problem.)

[stcredzero]

In the US, people run out of gas and feel like they're the victim of bad luck. In Germany, the officer tisk-tisks you for poor planning and writes you a ticket.

[DanBC]

> My point is: a car that has to be driven with a gazillion, million, billion specific instructions or else it's a brick,

You know that cars need to be filled with gas, right? And that using diesel in a regular (or vice - versa) is a big problem? And they need you to check the oil, and top up the oil? And that not topping up the oil is a big problem, right?

> "Your car died and you're in the middle of nowhere because you went 5mph over the recommended by Tesla speed,"

Well, no. "Your car died because you didn't charge it. You didn't charge it even though you knew you had a journey of X miles to go, and you knew you didn't have enough charge, and you were given strong advice (from the car, and from the car makers) that you hadn't charged it enough". Plug the car in - that's not a gazzillion million billion specific instructions. It's just one. Plug it in, let it charge.

[zevyoura]

You're arguing a straw man point; while the speed difference may have contributed to the discharge, I don't believe anyone's arguing it made the difference.

[OGinparadise]

Not really, if you look at Tesla's blog post, they even highlighted that went at 80mph for a while or once.

Why did they do that? To prove that he didn't write a book (a story wouldn't fit it) and detail every speed he drove or because they speed matters?

[zevyoura]

No, they did it because he said that he set the cruise control to 54 mph (a very specific number), which is clearly refuted by the data. In other words, it destroys his credibility.

[waterlesscloud]

Speed affects ICE cars range too, and at 80 it can be a significant effect.

[DanBC]

They did it to prove that he lied about the speed he was driving.

He claimed to be driving at one speed. He was driving not at that speed, and sometimes significantly faster.

[bjourne]

Because of air drag which is proportional to the square of the velocity. At highway speeds, a large part of the energy consumed by the car to move at constant velocity is spent overcoming air drag. I think that's also why they are calling him out on going 60 mph on cruise control instead of stated 54 mph.

[aqme28]

Complaining on Yelp is one thing. Hyperbole has no place in journalism of this caliber.

[snowwrestler]

Doesn't he claim he set the cruise control for 54? If so, I would not expect a cruise control to vary 5 mph in either direction.