Stalled Out on TeslaÂ’s Electric Highway

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 4:55 pm

Apparently battery capacity in cold temperatures is pretty bad. They're working on it, and apparently a new feature is a heater for the battery that keeps them warm at night while charging.

But this poor reporter had a real bad experience which shows that electric isn't QUITE ready to replace gas - at least not up north.

Starting to see a few of these Teslas around here, and a friend of mine has one on order. Looking forward to driving it. Around this area, with most everything within a 25 mile range (even Orlando is only 45 miles away) they're pretty practical.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/autom ... ghway.html

renovation · Post by **renovation** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 6:03 pm

wondering how my nephew is doing with his Volt in Bowling Green ky.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 6:16 pm

Hmmm, that does put quite a cramp on the electric vehicle promise.

wvjohn · Post by **wvjohn** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 6:38 pm

I have heard from other people with hybrids that the cold weather is a real issue, but they have the backup motor to charge 'em up. I also wonder about what the energy usage is if you get stuck in a traffic jam when it is cold. I know I've been trips in my car where I planned to stop at X location for gas and grits, only to find myself stuck behind some pileup with only a little bit of bounce left on the gas gauge.

Sounds like a warm climate car for now. Maybe you get add a tow rig and tow a generator behind you

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Feb 12, 2013 7:31 pm

Tesla is claiming that the NY Times article is fake:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joannmuller ... tric-cars/

Err · Post by **Err** » Thu Feb 14, 2013 3:51 pm

Checkmate: Tesla's Elon Musk Provides Driving Logs from NYT's "Peculiar" Model S Trip

http://www.dailytech.com/Checkmate+Teslas+Elon+Musk+Provides+Driving+Logs+from+NYTs+Peculiar+Model+S+Trip/article29901.htm

b-man1 · Post by **b-man1** » Thu Feb 14, 2013 5:48 pm

looks like the reporter needs a good "story" on that one to get out of it.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Thu Feb 14, 2013 9:54 pm

I was getting that "I don't want to like this thing" feeling from the reporter when I read the article.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Sun Feb 17, 2013 10:27 am

Looks like both sides might have their points. The Atlantic Wire did a nice analysis of the black box data:
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technolo ... ery/62149/

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Stalled Out on TeslaÂ’s Electric Highway

Stalled Out on Tesla’s Electric Highway