"The Times's February 10 article recounting a reporter's test drive in a Tesla Model S was completely factual, describing the trip in detail exactly as it occurred. Any suggestion that the account was "fake" is, of course, flatly untrue. Our reporter followed the instructions he was given in multiple conversations with Tesla personnel. He described the entire drive in the story; there was no unreported detour. And he was never told to plug the car in overnight in cold weather, despite repeated contact with Tesla."
> Tesla recommends charging Model S each night or when convenient to maintain optimum driving range and battery health. If you go on vacation, plug in your Model S before you leave.
The reporter is either an idiot or he wanted to become stranded.
That doesn't make it seem like the charge should go down overnight, just that you should top it up whenever you can because the range is pretty limited.
But Tesla explicitly says that even while they recommend it, you don't have to plug in over night: "The Model S battery will not lose a significant amount of charge when parked for long periods of time. For example, Model S owners can park at the airport without plugging in." And that the temperature make no difference: "Model S is engineered to perform in both hot and cold climates." (http://www.teslamotors.com/models/facts)
I seriously doubt anyone is going to spend $60-100k on a car that's well known to be different than all other cars and take it out on a road trip without any planning. If the author had charged the car when he had several opportunities to do so he would not have had any trouble.
I got a new car recently (gas powered) and I have not tried to test its range indicator by planning a trip to its capacity. If I did I would not take a detour through the largest city in the country or test out the acceleration. I also wouldn't stop at multiple gas stations and decide to not fill the tank. But hey, my article about sensibly using a vehicle wouldn't have made it into the NYT so what do I know.
If your neophyte owner never owned an object with a battery before and no one told him/her that battery charge drops if it is cold ... I fear he/she is no part of the modern world.
If Tesla sold millions of these cars, lots of people would not read the web page or manual about special maintenance conditions. It makes perfect sense to write a review from the perspective of average or below intelligence.
"The Times's February 10 article recounting a reporter's test drive in a Tesla Model S was completely factual, describing the trip in detail exactly as it occurred. Any suggestion that the account was "fake" is, of course, flatly untrue. Our reporter followed the instructions he was given in multiple conversations with Tesla personnel. He described the entire drive in the story; there was no unreported detour. And he was never told to plug the car in overnight in cold weather, despite repeated contact with Tesla."
http://jalopnik.com/elon-musk-super-pissed-about-new-york-ti...