Consumer Reports gives near-perfect score to Tesla Model S

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Reuters

By Deepa Seetharaman

DETROIT | Thu May 9, 2013 6:05am EDT

DETROIT (Reuters) - Consumer Reports magazine awarded a near-perfect score to Tesla Motors Co's (TSLA.O) Model S, citing the electric car's power, "pinpoint" handling and quiet, well-crafted interior.

The score of 99 out of 100 puts the Model S far ahead of other electric and gas-powered rivals, including the Porsche Panamera sports car and the Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid.

"Slipping behind the wheel of the Tesla Model S is like crossing into a promising zero-emissions future," the highly influential magazine said in its review on Thursday. "It's what Marty McFly might have brought back in place of his DeLorean in 'Back to the Future'."

Consumer Reports last gave a near-perfect score six years ago to the Lexus LS 460L luxury sedan made by Toyota Motor Corp, according to the magazine, which has more than 8 million subscribers.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/09/us-autos-tesla-test-idUSBRE9480E020130509

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http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2013/07/tesla-model-s-review/index.htm

[backscatter712]

1. So much for John Broder's smearjob from a few months back at the New York Times.

Remember how he pooh-poohed the Tesla S, said it had crappy battery life, then was completely pwned and debunked by Elon Musk, who provided the review car's black box data proving that Broder had driven the car around in circles, refused to charge the car properly, and deliberately ran down the battery.

The rest of the car industry is desperate for Tesla to fail. They can't stand having to spend the money to ramp up R&D, retool assembly lines, set up new technologies. Most of all, they don't want to piss off big oil.

[bleedinglib]

10. Ghost!!

The Ghost of Preston Tucker will rise & remind us of the power of big corporations.

[Newest Reality]

2. Isn't the "zero-emissions"

dependent on what fuels the generator of the electricity and how much pollution the plant emits?

Unless we have zero-emissions generation of electricity, then aren't we just skirting the issue?

[Stuart G]

4. It may not be zero emissions, but..it is better.

better than gasoline emissions.
Do you think the oil companies and the other auto companies will be able to destroy Tesla?..what do you think?

[Zorro]

8. Elon Musk is pretty tenacious

I think the company will survive.

And I think that both the oil and auto companies realize electric is the future for transportation, and will be making their investments accordingly to ensure a prominent role in that market.

The battery technology is the laggard here, but there have been interesting developments in the recent past that may hold promise to increase their energy density.

[navarth]

14. If anything destroys Tesla

it will be the price.

I hope all the inventors/entrepreneurs will be able to figure out
1. how to make one of these they can sell for 30K
2. how to set up an infrastructure for it
3. not have it dependent on fossil-fuel based generation of electricity for the battery.

I'd prefer they did it in my hometown of Detroit, but wherever they do it, I hope it's creating American jobs.

There's no doubt it would be massively helpful in efforts to save the environment if the problems can be solved. Ingenuity is good. My 2 cents

[Fumesucker]

20. It has to be a big heavy car at the moment in order to get the range

The batteries for range still weigh a lot and with a large car they can be a smaller percentage of the total weight.

If the car was half the weight you'd still need probably 80% of the battery to get the same range, bigger vehicles are more efficient in terms of energy used per kilogram per kilometer traveled.

Batteries are also still the most expensive single part of an EV so the half weight vehicle would still have 80% of the battery cost.

[sofa king]

39. That's part of what interests me about it.

Last edited Fri May 10, 2013, 12:28 PM - Edit history (1)

It's a heavy car with oodles of low-end torque, just like the vehicles produced by Detroit in the '60s. But unlike the parade-float handling of the musclecars, this one tames those extreme forces nearly perfectly, according to these folks.

That suggests to me that the design of the vehicle's suspension and steering must be very, very good. If so, that's an invention that has the potential to change everything on four wheels.

It is beginning to look as if the world once again has an Edison--or a Tesla--in its midst, a single person with a mind and drive that can change the entire world.

I hope Elon Musk doesn't turn out to be a Blofeld instead.

(Edit: It turns out that much of the handling performance of the vehicle comes from the very low center of gravity provided by the batteries, which are spread out along the bottom of the car more-or-less within the vertical diameter of the wheels and tires themselves. It's a little bit like the boxer engines that Porsche and Ferrari occasionally used, but in this case the weight can be distributed 50/50 from front to back, which eliminates the 911 "tailspin" phenomenon that wrecked so many of them. Porsche actually tried to correct the front-back weight distribution problem in the 1974 911S by installing two batteries in the front of the vehicle as a counterbalance. It was only partially successful.)

[jeff47]

22. Their plan for #1 is to use the expensive cars to figure out how to do it cheaper

The R&D to produce the pricey models, and further R&D funded by selling the pricey models, lets them figure out how to do it cheaper.

[wysimdnwyg]

32. Tesla is way ahead of you

When Tesla came out with the Roadster, they announced their plan to have the second gen. car be a luxury model, then the third gen car be affordable to the masses. While the Roadster was definitely a niche car in every way (not just being all electric and being quite expensive, but being a high end sports car, too), the Model S fits nicely into its segment as well. Is it expensive? Yes, but no more so (at least not much more) than other cars in the segment like the Audi A7 on which the body was modeled (the 2013 models compare at a starting at $62k vs $60k for the Audi). You're definitely paying for the luxury in addition to the electric motor.

The plan for Tesla now (beyond continued sales of the Model S, of course), is to design and build an electric car in the $30k range to compete with the Accords, Camry's and Fusions. If they can build those as well as they did with the Model S, they're going to be well positioned to be very profitable.



As for the infrastructure and generation issues, those are problems that are at once completely intertwined and completely separate. Tesla has been building charging stations up and down the west coast and in the northeast that are solar powered and completely free for Tesla owners. These stations can completely charge a high end Model S in about an hour. There are people who have successfully driven their Model S's cross country, so the infrastructure is definitely getting there.

The disparate portion of this discussion comes in with the transition away from fossil fuels (and nuclear) to renewable sources for electricity generation in general. Will charging electric cars (especially at home) mean an increase in burning coal and natural gas in the short term? Yes, when taken in a vacuum that doesn't consider overall reduced usage due to efficiency and the transition to renewables. But the coal and natural gas requirements reflect a significant decrease in green house gasses than even the most efficient gas burning car, including hybrids.

[Selatius]

33. +1 nt

[FogerRox]

36. Some municipalities and some corporations are installing charging stations

its already started.

Charging booths can be solar powered

http://www.plugincars.com/ev-charging-continues-evolve-123394.html

And then theres this idea

http://inhabitat.com/v-tent-is-a-solar-powered-ev-charging-and-protection-unit/

[joshcryer]

45. They already have that roadmap.

Tesla has always stated that they were going to start off with a super car (Tesla Roadster, $100k), move to luxury car (Tesla Model S, $70k), then move to SUV / crossover (Tesla Model X, price unknown, probably not cheaper than Model S). Their long term goal is to make a consumer level car around $30k with government subsidies (by then the other companies should be competing for electrics).

[AllyCat]

6. It could be for homes that are solar-powered.

With gasoline engines, you have NO OTHER sources for power besides gasoline. But electricity can come from many sources. People with hydroelectric, aside from the embodied energy making the dams/infrastructure, are zero-emission.

While it is not the norm, alternative energy sources are increasing in use and could make a big difference in this fight. My local grocery co-op even has a charging station in the parking lot (and has for about 10 years) although I have only seen a car charging a handful of times.

[backscatter712]

9. As Stuart G pointed out, it is more efficient this way.

You're burning less fossil fuel per mile this way than by using gasoline-powered engines.

And if the electricity's generated using green power, say wind or solar, that's an epic win!

[jeff47]

11. Even if the power comes from a coal plant, it's still better

Internal Combustion Engines aren't as efficient as modern coal plants, in CO2-per-mile. There's going to be some transmission losses for the power to get to the car, but probably not enough to erase the difference.

And that's if you get all of the power from the most emission-intensive power station. Power from the grid opens up better options.

[chelsea0011]

12. Maybe, but power plants run much cleaner now and could run even cleaner

with a stronger push from government.

[Kelvin Mace]

13. The care itself is "zero emissions"

Which is a help. Right now we exand massive amounts of carbon to get carbon out of the ground and put it in cars which then produce more carbon.

[backscatter712]

15. One thing I'd like to see.

A huge tax break or subsidy from the government for anyone who builds a charging station that also installs solar panels to help power the charging station. And any person buying an electric car for himself or herself, that also puts a charger in the garage, could also get a subsidy to install solar panels on the roof.

If every electric car charging station was partially powered by solar, it'd do wonders for the carbon footprint of electric vehicles.

[Bandit]

26. If your house is powered by wind and solar it pretty much would be ZERO emmisions.

Many houses are going green, so it is not a too distant future..

[NickB79]

34. It boils down to efficiency of a car vs. a power plant

A internal-combustion engine can only get around 15% efficiency, while a coal-fired plant can operate at 40% or better. I've read that new coal-fired plants, as well as natural gas plants, can get substantially higher than that. Even taking transmission losses into account, you will be releasing less CO2 per mile driven in a Tesla than almost any car with a gas engine onboard.

So, while it's not a true zero-emission vehicle, it's still far cleaner to drive an electric car even if it's powered by a coal-fired plant than a car fueled by gasoline.

[joshcryer]

46. Interestingly, electrics use less electricity than fossil cars.

Fossil cars require electricity to refine their fuel and it was found that electrics use even less electricity.

In that vein one can say that they are negative emitters because for the same mile per mile that an electric car drives, regardless of power source, they will use less electricity than cars that use refined fuel.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002299786

[Stuart G]

3. Here is another link...from ... cnbc.com

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100722346


These are comments from the Consumer Reports article:


"Slipping behind the wheel of the Tesla Model S is like crossing into a promising zero-emissions future. This electric luxury sports car, built by a small automaker based in Palo Alto, Calif., is brimming with innovation, delivers world-class performance, and is interwoven throughout with impressive attention to detail. It’s what Marty McFly might have brought back in place of his DeLorean in  “Back to the Future.” The sum total of that effort has earned the Model S the highest score in our Ratings: 99 out of  100. That is far ahead of such direct competitors as the gas-powered Porsche Panamera (84) and the Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid (57).


The Tesla rivets your attention from the start. Simply touching the flush aluminum door handles causes them to slide outward, welcoming you inside. With the car-shaped fob in your pocket or purse, a tap of the brake pedal brings the Model S to life. There’s no need to insert a key or press a button. You’re immediately greeted by the glow of a huge 17-inch video display that dominates the center of the dash and allows you to control everything, such as adjusting the suspension’s ride height and setting up a new Slacker Radio channel. And as you dip into the throttle, you experience a silent yet potent surge of power that will make many sports cars weep with envy.


With its hefty 85-kWh lithium-ion battery, our Tesla is easily the most practical electric car we’ve tested. Though the Ford Focus Electric and Nissan Leaf can go about 80 and 75 miles, respectively, before needing a charge, our Model S has been giving us around 200 miles: ample for commuting, running plenty of errands, and still being able to take the long, winding way home."

[AllyCat]

5. I love the looks of this car. If I had the money, I would buy one in a heartbeat

[Zorro]

7. I've been noticing them more often on LA streets lately

It's a very alluring design.

[Kelvin Mace]

16. Unfortunately...

the people who would benefit the most from electric cars and who have the most cars on the road, the working poor, can't afford electric cars. The closest thing we have right now is the Nissan Leaf, at around $32,000+. I have a hard time spending 40% of my houses value on a car.

[jeff47]

24. Tesla has a plan for that

The R&D costs are huge, since the technology is mostly new. So Tesla's plan is to make expensive cars to fund the R&D. That R&D lets them figure out how to make cheaper cars.

Basically, they're trying to avoid the problems of previous electric cars where they make a fairly pricey car, but it feels cheap because the costs are in the battery.

So in theory, Tesla will be producing low-cost vehicles sometime in the future.

[workinclasszero]

27. Sad but true

I would love to have a car like the Tesla or even a hybrid like the Prius but they are still out of reach price wise for me.

[The Wizard]

17. What will big oil (Koch Industries)

do to stifle the free market?
Electric cars are coming and big oil's influence over our lives is on the wane. Simply put, they won't have the money they now have to bribe legislators who have secret Cayman Islands accounts. Fuck the Koch brothers.

[AverageJoe90]

44. Indeed!

The day when electric cars finally come onto their own in the world, is coming quite a bit sooner than many would have thought just this last decade or so. And so, too, are the days of renewable energy, and older Otto-cycle cars burning something other than gasoline....hemp and biochar, anyone?

[BREMPRO]

18. awesome .. beautiful, functional and efficient..glimse of the future!

happy to see this spark of success for E cars .. hope the skeptics eat their words and drown in crude oil!

[mainer]

19. Saw my first Tesla "in the wild" in Phoenix.

They don't work so well in cold climates (battery doesn't hold as long a charge), but I hope Tesla can improve the range of its battery enough to make them a better option in the northeast. I've sat in one in the showroom and the mechanics are so beautifully simple. A tiny little motor does it all. Huge amount of trunk space.

My minor criticism is that they need to work on their interior. It's a luxury price, but the detail work (the leather, the door handles) didn't feel like a luxury car.

[xtraxritical]

23. Battery's don't do well in heat either...

[truthisfreedom]

21. I own a Tesla Roadster Sport

There are only 2500 in the world. My girlfriend set the land speed record at the Texas Mile last month and we are trying to recapture the quarter mile record tomorrow in Tucson. It's a thing of dreams. Elon Musk is a genius. The thing nobody talks about is this: it takes 1/10 of the energy (and cost) to operate this automobile when compared to a similar supercar. We drive it all over the country and it costs $7 per 245 miles. And it's nearly silent taking off at a light.

[bitchkitty]

29. I am green with jealousy! You are a lucky person.

I'm looking forward to the day when I can afford one, when the price (hopefully) comes down.

[Vinnie From Indy]

42. The land speed record? She sounds hot!

And the car sounds cool too!

Cheers!

[SunSeeker]

25. I've got solar panels to support it. I just need the car...and $80K. Sigh. nt

[FogerRox]

37. Once you buy the car theres this

http://inhabitat.com/v-tent-is-a-solar-powered-ev-charging-and-protection-unit/

[SunSeeker]

40. Cool. nt

[LaPera]

28. Telsa Trashing Bill O'Reilly, Sarah Palin, Lou Dobbs, Mitt Romney are you listening?

Telsa Model S is Consumer Reports car of the year!!! Receiving CR highest rating ever.

Republican Sarah Palin recently slammed electric car maker Tesla Motors on her Facebook page, referring to it as one of the (Obama subsidized) “losers” of the auto industry....Bill Republican Bill O'Reilly & Lou Dobbs have also trashed the government helped Telsa Model S - As did Republican Mitt Romney during his failed presidential campaign......

"Tesla's stock roared 25% in after-hours trading, following the Q1 report. Its shares already were up 65% in 2013.... Tripling Wall Street's expectations."

These same assholes were wrong about Obama's auto bail out as well....Lying, stupid, greedy Republicans assholes!

[melm00se]

30. great car

if you have the $60-80K sticker price

[Kolesar]

31. Does CR know it's not a Toyota?

:love:

[JNelson6563]

38. That was my thought too!

Great minds...

Julie

[yodermon]

35. Check out this quote from the CR article

"And as you dip into the throttle, you experience a silent yet potent surge of power that will make many sports cars weep with envy."

This is *consumer reports* now mind you.

[KamaAina]

41. I saw one on the highway a couple of weeks ago

it had Nevada plates "ZRO GAS"!

Looked like a sweet ride.

[Codeine]

43. A change from their normal Honda-and-Toyota-Only Policy

Useless rag designed exclusively to reinforce and congratulate already-established yuppie decision-making processes.

[GreenStormCloud]

47. Drawbacks of electric-only cars.

It costs as much as my house did. They have to get a Model-T version of it to do for electrics what Ford did for gas-powered cars.

Limited range causes it to require very careful trip planning. You have to plan distances and recharging times. With a gas engine you can refill the tank in a couple of minutes and be ready to go for hundreds of more miles.