David Noland, Contributor
Articles
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The third day of my New York-to-Florida electric-car road trip, using the newly completed string of Supercharger stations along the East Coast, brought me almost to my destination in Florida.
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Tesla Model S: NY-To-FL Trip, From Home To South Carolina
So far, the New York-to-Florida electric-car road trip in my 2013 Tesla Model S is progressing pretty much according to plan. That's not to say I haven't learned a few things in traveling via the newly-completed network of Tesla Supercharger DC quick-charging stations. One of them would be that...
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Tesla Model S NY-To-FL Winter Getaway, Via Supercharger
It's late January in upstate New York: 8 degrees F, with cloudy, light snow drifting down. The long-range forecast predicts non-stop sub-freezing temperatures for the next eight days. I need to get the hell out of here. Time for a road trip. MORE: Tesla Superchargers Now Opening Fast, Cross-Country...
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Tesla Superchargers Now Opening Fast, Cross-Country Route Close
After a disappointing 2013, a year in which Tesla fell short of ambitious goals for expanding its Supercharger network, the company has picked up the pace remarkably. Just last week, seven new Superchargers came on line, the latest of a wave of 40 of the proprietary Supercharger DC fast-charging...
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Life With Tesla Model S: Battery Upgrade From 60 kWh To 85 kWh
A recent 1,200-mile East Coast road trip in my 2013 Tesla Model S electric car proved to be something of a turning point in my view of the car. Fitted with the smaller 60-kilowatt-hour battery pack, my car's EPA range of 208 miles was not quite enough to make it between Superchargers--Tesla's...
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Life With Tesla Model S East-Coast Road Trip: Freeze In Slow Lane, Or Languish At Nissan Dealers?
After reading George Parrott's article yesterday about his effortless 1,200-mile West Coast road trip along Tesla's Supercharger Highway, I have only one thing to say. "George, you lucky bastard." You see, I too recently made a 1,200-mile journey in my Tesla Model S. And it wasn't quite so...
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This started out as a feel-good article about another great experience I had with Tesla's extraordinary service program.
But it morphed into a detective story that apparently solves the mystery of...
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Life With Tesla Model S: Even After Update, Vampire Draw Remains
The Tesla Model S, for all its technical and design artistry, has a dirty little secret: the car has a substantial appetite for kilowatt-hours even when turned off and parked. Since the Model S was introduced in 2012, this "vampire" power drain from the cars sold so far has consumed roughly 15...
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How Tesla May Beef Up Its Model S Battery Protection System
Unless your name is Brinks, you rarely hear the words "armor" and "car" mentioned in the same sentence. But two recent widely-publicized fires in the Tesla Model S electric car have put the spotlight on how its battery pack is protected from severe impacts underneath the car. MORE: Tesla Fires...
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Tesla Underground: Texas Franchise Rules Make Model S Owners Skirt The Law
Over the last couple of years, Tesla Motors has fought legal and legislative battles in a number of states over proposed or current state laws that try to stymie its unique factory-direct sales and service model. In most cases--Massachusetts, New York, and North Carolina, among others--Tesla has...
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Life With Tesla Model S: Pushing the Range Limits In 60-kWh Car
In the eight months I've owned my 60-kWh Tesla Model S, I've never had occasion to drive it more than 120 miles, comfortably within the car's EPA-rated 208-mile range. The phrase "range anxiety" was not in my lexicon. But last week, I got an invitation from Don Sherman, Technical Director of Car...
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Sorting Out The Superchargers: Doing Tesla Math For Forbes
Business publisher Forbes released a piece yesterday that it couched as a rebuttal to a Green Car Reports article published last week. We reported on Tesla's efforts to install 18 new Superchargers by the summer of 2013, a goal it announced months ago. The Forbes piece claims that Tesla had met its...
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Last spring, a map on Tesla's website promised that 18 new "Superchargers"--the ultra-fast charging stations for its Model S electric luxury car--would be activated around the U.S. during "Summer...
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Life With Tesla Model S: Three Days Of Service Nirvana
A few months ago, some minor glitches in my 2013 Tesla Model S were fixed at the Tesla service center in White Plains, New York. It was a perfectly satisfactory experience, pretty much like any other service visit: Drive to the shop, read magazines for a couple of hours, get the car back, drive...
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Life With Tesla Model S: Owner's Report After 5,000 Miles
It's now been more than five months and 5,000 miles since I took delivery of my 2013 Tesla Model S. The four-year wait after I put down my deposit in 2009 created a huge burden of pent-up hopes and expectations. With the initial glow of ownership now dulled by the daily routine of real-world...
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Anti-Tesla Bill Backed By North Carolina Car Dealers Is Dead
Tesla Motors has dodged two big bullets fired its way by New York and North Carolina legislatures and auto dealers. Last week, the New York State Senate and Assembly adjourned until January without acting on two bills pushed by state auto dealers that would have made it illegal to register a Tesla...
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Life With Tesla Model S: Trying Out The Service Program
Tesla's announcement last month of its new service program sounded almost too good to be true. If anything went wrong with my 2013 Tesla Model S, promised CEO Elon Musk, instead of schlepping to the nearest service center, I would simply await the arrival in my driveway of the Tesla service tech...
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Does The Tesla Model S Electric Car Pollute More Than An SUV?
Does the supposedly clean, green Tesla Model S really pollute more than a gas-guzzling Jeep Grand Cherokee sport-utility vehicle? That's what one analyst has claimed. In an exhaustive 6,500-word article on the financial website Seeking Alpha, analyst Nathan Weiss lays out a case that the Model S...
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I've been leasing a 2011 Chevrolet Volt for almost two years now. And about three months ago, I took delivery of a 2013 Tesla Model S, the 60-kWh version.
So I've gotten an extended first-hand look...
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How You Can Buy a 2013 Tesla Model S Now, With No Waiting
Good news for rich, impatient, picky Tesla Model S electric-car wannabes! If you're looking to buy right now--but can't abide a car sullied by a few thousand miles of loaner-car duty under the recently announced buy-it-now program--Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] now offers a new but little-known option...
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Life With 2013 Tesla Model S: Some Bikes Don't Fit
I've now had my 2013 Tesla Model S for six weeks since it was delivered in late February, and I'm getting used to living with it. I've recharged at the Supercharger network, measured its vampire current usage at night, tested the impact of speed on range, and even experienced my first software...
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Life With 2013 Tesla Model S: How A Software Update Worked
One of the many cutting-edge features of my new 2013 Tesla Model S is the ability to download software updates over its cellular connection. With its touch-screen controls and electronic motor and battery systems, the Model S all-electric sport sedan is almost certainly the most highly computerized...
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Life With 2013 Tesla Model S: Range Penalty At Speed Is Lower Than Expected
I've been surprised and delighted by how efficiently my new 2013 Tesla Model S has been running at higher speeds. Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] hammers home the message that high speeds can drastically reduce the range of any Model S. It cautions that its original range figure of 230 miles for my 60-kWh...
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Life With 2013 Tesla Model S: 'Vampire' Thirst For Electricity At Night?
A couple of weeks ago, shortly after I took delivery of my 2013 Tesla Model S, I noticed that my home electric meter seemed to be running a bit faster than normal. I keep a close eye on my meter, but that seemed odd. After all, the long-awaited new luxury sport sedan delivered to my house in...
David Noland