David Noland, Contributor
Articles
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Richard Hugo, of Carpinteria, California, may be the only Tesla Model S owner in the world who prefers to drive his other car.
But it’s not as crazy as it sounds; his second set of wheels is a...
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Report from the Tesla Model 3 trenches: lines, camaraderie, deposits
I figured I’d be smart, and get to the Tesla Store at 8:30 a.m., half an hour before it opened. That would get me in line for the Model 3 before everyone but a few die-hard camper-outers. Boy, was I wrong. As I pulled up to the store in Santa Barbara, California, this morning, the parking lot...
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Tesla Model 3: speculating on versions, batteries, prices, power
The Tesla Model 3 that will be unveiled next Thursday evening may be the most anticipated and significant electric car of recent years. Scheduled to hit the market in late 2017 with a price tag of $35,000 before incentives and a range of 200 miles or more, the Model 3 aims to be the first true...
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Old Vs New: 2016 Tesla Model S 90D Compared To Original Version
In a week or so, my 2013 Tesla Model S, now fitted with an 85-kilowatt-hour battery, will wind up its third year of residence in my driveway. It just finished its third cross-country trip, from my home in New York’s Hudson Valley to a winter getaway in Carpinteria, California, and the...
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Cars Vs. Planes: Which Emits More Carbon? (Which Sins Worse?)
Eco-activists often indict air travel as a carbon-spewing threat to the global climate. Worldwide, commercial jets pour an estimated 700 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year, leading to headlines like this one in The New York Times not long ago: “Your Biggest Carbon...
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Life With Tesla Model S: Thoughts On '10 Things I Hate' Article (Really Only Seven)
It was a classic click-bait headline: “Ten Things I Hate About My Tesla.” The article appeared last week on The Drive, a new "automotive culture" website from publisher Time Inc. The author, Andy Blau, owns a green Tesla Model S and spends a lot of time driving on New Jersey’s...
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One of the coolest things about owning a Tesla Model S for almost three years now has been the service.
When first revealed back in the spring of 2013—a few months after I had taken delivery...
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Life With Tesla Model S: Extended Warranty, 'Tricky' Owners & More Updates
I've had my 2013 Tesla Model S for two and a half years now, and I've reported on the entire process, from ordering through delivery. After an update on my battery capacity--which lost slightly more than average, but not worrisomely so--it's time for a roundup of other items I've faced as I reach...
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Life With Tesla Model S: Battery Degradation Update
Last summer, I wrote in this space about an apparent loss of battery capacity in my 2013 Tesla Model S after a three-month Supercharging binge. I wondered whether, despite assurances from Tesla Motors, the two events might have been related. My doubts had started when I noticed that, after a...
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Life With Tesla Model S: Should I Buy The Extended Warranty?
The odometer on my 2013 Tesla Model S ticked over 49,000 miles yesterday. That means I’ll soon be facing a big financial decision: whether or not to buy Tesla’s extended warranty, or as they call it, extended service agreement (ESA). The car’s standard bumper-to-bumper warranty is...
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Tesla Letter To Rein In Local Supercharger Use Goes Wrong
Last month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced a change in Tesla’s Supercharging philosophy. Instead of “free forever” (the phrase the company has used since the beginning), Musk said the Supercharger promise is now “free long-distance travel forever” Superchargers, the...
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Life With Tesla Model S: Does Supercharging Cut Battery Capacity?
Last month, my wife and I took my 2013 Tesla Model S on a day trip from our home in New York’s Hudson Valley to Brattleboro, Vermont, a distance of 180 miles. We picked up our daughter, charged the 85-kilowatt-hour battery up to 98 percent at the Brattleboro Supercharger, and returned home...
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At Tesla’s annual shareholders’ meeting earlier this month, CEO Elon Musk groused about Model S owners who aggressively use the company’s Superchargers for their local driving.
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Life With Tesla Model S: Local Supercharger Joys & Frustrations
As an early Tesla Model S owner, I’m accustomed to waiting. After putting down a $5,000 deposit in April 2009, I waited nearly four years to take delivery of the car. And then I waited another 18 months for the vast barren Northeast Supercharger Desert to bloom, finally unleashing the...
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Life With Tesla Model S: Valet Mode Hides Away All The Fun
As arguably the coolest, most cutting-edge car in the world, the Tesla Model S electric car attracts a lot of curiosity and envy from other drivers. What self-respecting car guy—or gal—wouldn’t love to take a Tesla out for a quick spin around the block, just to sample its...
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2015 Tesla Model S 70D: First Drive Of New Electric Car Base Model
Last week, the new base version of the Tesla Model S, known as the 70D, hit the electric-car world like a thunderclap. No early-warning publicity, no teasing tweet from Elon. Just the sudden appearance on the Tesla website configurator of the new model--with dual motors, all-wheel drive, a 70-kWh...
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Elon Musk: Tesla Model S 'Ends Range Anxiety' With Smart Navigation, Trip Planner
Earlier this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased us Model S owners with a tweet promising to “end range anxiety.” In a press conference this morning, Musk revealed the goods: an over-the-air firmware update that, while not increasing the range of the car, will at least set the...
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Tesla Model S Double-Pedal Behavior Still Inconsistent: A Safety Plea To Elon Musk
Last summer, I wrote an article patting Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk on the back for being so responsive to Model S electric-car owners. Of whom I am one. But in 2015? Not so much. I ended that article with a plea to Musk for a safety upgrade on the Model S: a firmware change to cut off power to the...
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After seven days of traveling cross-country in my Tesla Model S electric car--including routes without Supercharger DC fast-charging sites--I had made it as far as Texas.
The trip demanded both...
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Tesla Model S Cross-Country Trip, Without (Many) Superchargers: Days 4-7
A cross-country road trip in a Tesla Model S electric car requires a fair amount of forward planning and contingency research. Still, I made it from New York's cold, snowy Hudson Valley into the warm, humid climes of Alabama in my first three days--as I wrote about yesterday. Then, waking up on Day...
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Tesla Model S Cross-Country Trip, Without (Many) Superchargers: Days 1-3
With our daughter off to college, my wife and I recently became empty-nesters. Suddenly, there was no more reason to endure the wretched winters in New York’s Hudson Valley. California, here we come: We rented a cottage for February and March in the small beach town of Carpinteria, an hour...
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Tesla Model S Battery Life: How Much Range Loss For Electric Car Over Time?
One of the things electric-car owners worry about is long-term battery degradation. It’s a well-established fact that lithium-ion batteries gradually lose capacity as they undergo numerous charge/discharge cycles. We owners understand that our range will gradually decline over the life of the...
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Tesla P85D Highlights Why EPA Range Ratings Are Inconsistent & Confusing For Electric Cars
There’s been a lot of confusion recently about the official EPA-certified ranges of certain electric cars. That all-important number goes on the window sticker, and is typically used for advertising and marketing purposes. In November, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk announced, with great fanfare...
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Tesla Model S Aluminum Body: Why Repair Costs Are Higher
As more and more Tesla Model S electric sport sedans hit the road—50,000-plus at last count—some of their drivers are naturally starting to have accidents. They are bumping into other cars, colliding with deer, scraping telephone poles, and backing up into poles and trees. Their cars...
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