I received an email from Tesla at 2:04 a.m. EST today to finally clear up this whole mess. The funny thing is though, it only raises more questions. Namely, who is telling the truth in this whole mess between The New York Times and Tesla Motors?
Titled "A Most Peculiar Test Drive," Tesla's Elon Musk writes a blog post that essentially paints a different picture from The New York Times writer. There are a lot of oddities in what Tesla is claiming are the logs for the vehicle piloted by the writer.
Pretty much, Musk says pretty candidly that they feel John Broder — the writer — was on a crusade against electric vehicles and determined to intentionally make the car fail for a good story.
One claim from Tesla that has be dumbfounded is that the car never lost all of its charge, even when Broder had the vehicle flatbedded. That's peculiar considering the vehicle was pictured on the tow truck getting charged because the vehicle's e-brake couldn't be disengaged as it was powerless, according to Broder.
At the end of the day, here's my problem with this rebuttal. It's great that the data points are clear BUT they only leave any reader asking more questions AND I noticed there is no unique ID that ties it back to Broder's car that he drove on that day. I would love to see a VIN on the data logs, plus a signed loan agreement with the VIN and Broder's signature on it. In addition, it would be great if a third-party spoke to the tow truck driver.
But this may forever stay a mystery as Tesla says in its email blast:
"Please note, no one from Tesla – including Elon – will be providing additional comment on this topic moving forward as we feel the blog speaks for itself. At this time, this post is the company’s final statement on the issue. We are happy to provide clarity however, should you have any questions."Not sure if that's a good or bad public relations move...
So,
WHO's side are YOU on?**Interesting note: This appears to be the SAME vehicle that had a defective charger that wouldn't release when in the hands of an AutoWeek editor — it has the same plates and is the same color.
When Tesla first approached The New York Times about doing this story, it was supposed to be focused on future advancements in our Supercharger technology. There was no need to write a story about existing Superchargers on the East Coast, as that had already been done by Consumer Reports with no problems! We assumed that the reporter would be fair and impartial, as has been our experience with The New York Times, an organization that prides itself on journalistic integrity. As a result, we did not think to read his past articles and were unaware of his outright disdain for electric cars. We were played for a fool and as a result, let down the cause of electric vehicles. For that, I am deeply sorry.
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