“That would be like a (hybrid) frog, able to function in and out of the water, but not very good at either”
High Speeds In Germany Will Be A Big Hurdle
CEO Musk “Resents” Question About New York Times Story
“If Tesla had designed a glorified golf-cart to use electric power on short, utilitarian shopping missions that would have made a lot of sense”
GENEVA, Switzerland – Tesla Motors said it will not change the design of its all-electric S sports car by adding a range-extender, which might help it avoid the kind of low-temperature debacle revealed by the New York Times or the inevitable repetition of this when high-speed German autobahns loom later this year.
At a press conference at the Geneva car show, Tesla said it had tested the cars on German autobahns and they had stood up well, although it didn’t give any details of the speeds attained for how long or the range achieved.
Tesla has always been very careful when allowing journalists or investment bankers to drive the S model sports car. All test drives, up until the New York Times episode, had been kept short. This meant that all reports were full of praise for the cars er electrifying performance, fabulous handling, and magnificent interior quality, none of which are in doubt. But the range is a big question, no matter how much Tesla officials pretend that it isn’t.
It is hard to see how problems can be avoided in Europe. Highway speeds are much higher here and of course large sections in Germany are without limit at all. As soon as speeds touch about 70 mph you can expect a huge drop off in battery capacity. Anyone driving the Tesla S in any way like a supercar is going to spend much time with a furrowed brow worrying about being stranded.
That makes the choice of building an all-electric sports car so difficult to explain. If Tesla had designed a glorified golf-cart to use electric-only power on short, utilitarian shopping missions, that would have made a lot of sense. Its next model, an SUV, is more practical, but still will be handicapped in Europe by high-speed use. And don’t forget all Tesla’s range data is based on an average of 55 mph.
If Tesla had opted for a plug-in hybrid or range extended electric vehicle, surely that would have made more sense, particularly in Europe, I asked at the press conference?
Not pure
No, said Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Adding a range-extender would divert from the purity of the all-electric project. He said this would make the Model S into a hybrid, which didn’t do anything perfectly.
“That would be like a frog, able to function in and out of the water, but not very good at either,” Musk said.
Musk hasn’t reacted well to criticism. Last month the New York Times, in a road test of the Model S, reported that because of a sudden drop in temperature, the range of the Tesla was slashed. Tesla reacted by saying the review had been faked. Musk accused New York Times reporter John Broder of wilfully failing to charge the battery to the maximum, and taking a detour to make sure it ran out of power. Broder stood by his story, and said he’d received conflicting advice from Tesla operatives. Musk quoted Tesla data it had collected during Broder’s drive to back up its version of events, but, when asked by reporters in the U.S. this turned out to be unavailable for “privacy” reasons. There was ominous talk of law suits to reclaim the hundreds of millions of dollars wiped from Tesla’s stock market valuation after the story broke. Musk has also sued BBCTV’s Top Gear for libel after it used some heavy handed satire to show that it thought the range of all-electric cars was dodgy. That suit was rejected by the British Appeals Court.
Pressed by this reporter, eventually Musk lost his cool about the New York Times story and said how much he “resented” the question. Musk tried to show the press conference that his version was the accepted truth, but wouldn’t acknowledge that his had been subject to much criticism too.
Earlier at the press conference Musk said some production of its Model S electric car will be diverted from U.S. buyers to Europe, so that it can make up for delays in promised deliveries to customers here. Production for Europe will begin in June, so that deliveries can start here in July. Musk didn’t say how many vehicles were involved.
Musk said that a network of supercharging stations across Europe would mean that Model S drivers could travel for free on their long distance drives.
Awaiting reply to offer
Tesla said the Model S has a range of up to 500 kilometres (just over 300 miles).
My offer to Tesla after the press conference to let them prove me wrong by driving the vehicle in Germany has so far not been accepted. We live in hopes.
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