Elon Musk, the
billionaire chief executive officer of Tesla Motors Inc., said a range
test of the Model S electric sedan by the New York Times was “fake” as
the reporter didn’t disclose all the details of his drive.
“NYTimes article about
Tesla range in cold is fake,” Musk said in a Twitter post today.
“Vehicle logs tell true story that he didn’t actually charge to max
& took a long detour.”
The Times on Feb. 8
published a story by John M. Broder on its website detailing how the
Model S he drove failed to meet the electric sedan’s 300-mile
(483-kilometre) range “under ideal conditions” while driving in
temperatures as low as minus 12 Celsius. The Times also published a blog
post by Broder about the test-drive on the same day, detailing his plan
to use Tesla’s new “supercharger” stations.
Eileen Murphy, a
spokeswoman for the New York Times, said she couldn’t immediately
comment and Broder declined to comment. Christina Ra, a spokeswoman for
Tesla, earlier declined to comment on the story.
Musk said in a
separate Twitter comment that Tesla’s test cars for media drives have
data loggers to record details of such trips. Musk also said a company
blog is being prepared “detailing what actually happened” during
Broder’s drive. Musk told CNBC that Broder took “an extended tour
through Manhattan” and at times drove “10 miles or above the speed
limit.”
Tesla fell the most in almost two months Monday after the paper’s first-person account about the cold-weather test-drive.
The Times’ story and
blog post detailed a test-drive on Interstate 95 on the U.S. East Coast.
Broder planned to repower the car using rapid charge stations Tesla has
installed in Newark, Delaware, and Milford, Conn., during his drive.
Tesla is installing a network of rapid charger stations to eventually
fulfill Musk’s goal of making it possible to drive cross-country in a
Model S.
During the trip, Broder reported that the car ran out of power and had to be towed on a flatbed truck.
Tesla’s web site says
the range of the car’s almost 454-kilogram lithium-ion battery pack is
well below the 300-mile level at highway speeds above 55 miles an hour
and when the heating or cooling system is used.
“After digging into
the background behind the article, our conclusion is that operator error
likely played a primary role, due to improper charging protocol,”
Elaine Kwei, an analyst for Jefferies & Co., wrote in a report
earlier Monday.
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