Re: Who cares?
The facts are that this is pure driver error. The driver failed to provide enough 'fuel' (power charge) to go the distance necessary.
Period. The driver ran out of gas.
Yet somehow this is the fault of an inanimate object. Somehow this is the fault of an electric car, not to go further than the charge level versus distance provided to it.
The quite indisputable fact is that Broder failed to charge the car fully at the Newark, DE Supercharger station. Broder stopped the charge at 72%. His excuse is 'it said I had enough charge'. But that's the car's fault.
Yet if a person in a gasoline-powered car only puts 3/4 of a tank of gas in, then complains when the car stalls on the highway...it's the driver's fault.
The *fact* is that people are applying a complete double-standard. And I HATE and REFUSE to accept double standards - in ANY part of my life. The driver ran out of 'fuel'. Indisputable. The driver failed to 'fill' the car to 'full - a point that Broder somehow never denies. The driver drove past numerous alternative charging points
http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/blog_images/routestations.jpg
even as he watched his range gauge decrease, as it must have during the trip (as he never claims that the range gauge stopped working). His own editor has now, quite officially, criticized his test methodology:
http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/problems-with-precision-and-judgment-but-not-integrity-in-tesla-test/
For the record, I hold a United States Class AXM (tractor-trailer (18 wheel articulated lorry) / hazardous materials [tractor-trailer / articulated lorry] / motorcycle / car) license. I have driven all of the above. Until 4 years ago, I was personally driving 42,000 miles (67,000 km) a year commuting to and from my new job PLUS between 7,000 miles (11,000 km) to 13,000 miles (20,000 km) per year on the motorcycle. I refueled the car, a Jetta 1.8T with a 14.5 gallon (55L) fuel tank, on average 3 times a week.
Yes, that's a HELL of a lot of fuel.
I am about as "motor head" as they come - well, at least for motorcycles. I can usually spot a motorcycle's make and model just by following it on the road and looking at its final drive. I love motorcycles. I drive long distances in cars but believe in that old quote from Autoweek Magazine: "Cars are for wankers".
I am quite tired of the monopoly of "gear heads" telling me how I am supposed to love driving or riding. I'm supposed to, because I simply love driving and riding, worship the "sound of the engine at full throttle" and worship that "deep throaty roar" of an exhaust. To tell you the truth, I *always* ride with earplugs on. I am not riding to hear a mechanism beneath me, I am riding to FEEL A SENSATION OF FREEDOM AND BEING AT ONE WITH THE MOVING ENVIRONMENT.
So many "gear heads" are in LIVID FEAR of losing their precious gasoline internal combustion engines, as if the pleasure of conquering the skills necessary to control the dynamics of a vehicle at speed are coupled exclusively to the motive force used to move said vehicle. I, for one, am more open minded. It is about the EXPERIENCE, not the mechanics. For example, I am looking to go to a *smaller* motorcycle right now (gasp!) - the huge cruiser that I have now I feel impedes my ability to experience the freedom I seek. Weight is an enemy of true freedom of motion, and I'm currently in a mindset to get rid of all the extra that I can. My current bike is great - a real sweetheart that has taken me almost 2/3 the way across a vast continent and back in just 10 days round trip (5,200 miles in 10 days) - but its size always makes itself known.
I've read far too many "reviews" by these automotive "writers" that down-rate the electric vehicle simply because...it doesn't make that "Grrrrr!" noise when they open the throttle. Seriously. Read, for example, Motorcyclist Magazine's first review of the Zero electric bike. Most of the riding experience is judged from the perspective of no motor feel or noise, not whether or not it gave a good motive experience.
But it's the same all over. It really ticks me off that, in the motorcycle world, the only thing that the media seems to care about is horsepower. Bigger = Better. I'm jumping off that ship, I'm not locking into the stagnant thinking that they try to push, and therefore electric holds no fear.