WSJ article on EVs mistakes ranges

http://online.wsj.com/articles/lg-chem-working-on-battery-to-rival-teslas-range-1407776312" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
(the link is through the WSJ paywall; I'm a subscriber, but I think this link will work for a few days).

I read this article this morning, and was unhappy to see several incorrect ranges stated:

The Chevy Volt gets fewer than 85 miles in range.

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The Nissan Leaf has a range of about 75 miles.

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These are true but misleading statements.

haha, yeah, technically true. They could have also said the Volt has less than a 500-mile range.

I contacted the author of the article, and his response was rather standoffish, disputing that he'd said anything misleading at all. From email: "I was compiling the Spark and Volt together to show that GM's two electric vehicles have far less than 200 miles. The original 2010 Leaf range was 73 - rated by the EPA."

We had a few back and forth emails, including "The Leaf range is an estimate. It was originally was 73 and was only increased in the past month or two to 84 but almost all of the Leaf's on the road are around 75."

His last email to me seemed that he was going to hold his ground firm, but when I just looked at the article now, the online version is updated. They removed this caption from under the picture of the Volt:

The Chevy Volt gets fewer than 85 miles in range

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And they added the second sentence here:

The two electric cars GM currently offers—the Volt and Spark—get fewer than 85 miles in range on a single charge. The all-electric Spark gets 82 miles on a charge, while the Volt hybrid gets 38 miles.

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He did not update the statement on the range of the Leaf, though.

Good job getting a correction made. As I recall, the confusion about "Volt" and the less than 80-something miles was in a caption of a photo. The actual article itself was not necessarily misleading. It's possible that the photo caption was written by an editor rather than the reporter. Editors typically write the headlines and sometimes don't read the details closely enough.

First, the WSJ is a Rupert Murdoch property, so no surprise that the reporting is not up to the standards of the WSJ we all knew and loved when it was still Dow Jones.

Second, I have noticed in my 50+ years since high school that my Journalism teacher was immensely correct when he warned the class about the concept of objectivity in journalism. "Do not confuse the need for objectivity with the maintenance of ignorance on a given subject."

jlv said:

The Chevy Volt gets fewer than 85 miles in range.

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The Nissan Leaf has a range of about 75 miles.

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These are true but misleading statements.

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Looks like WSJ has been using Dogbert consulting. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2005-11-18/

JeffN said:

Good job getting a correction made. As I recall, the confusion about "Volt" and the less than 80-something miles was in a caption of a photo. The actual article itself was not necessarily misleading.

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No, it was misleading in the article and in the caption (see above where the second sentence was added). I get the WSJ delivered, so I still have the print copy with the mistakes. I only checked online because I wanted to write the author.

FWIW, my last email from him still implied he was standing by the article as written. That was just before the online version was updated.

walterbays said:

Looks like WSJ has been using Dogbert consulting. http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2005-11-18/

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:lol:

Going to the article via Google news might work, if you can't read it directly:
https://news.google.com/news?ncl=d-Dus3i4drGjWEMv8iKI5bHSRvqtM&q=lg+chem&lr=English&hl=en&sa=X&ei=t-TqU4G_HoH4yQT4sIBo&ved=0CCEQqgIwAA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
or
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&authuser=0&q=Battery+Battle%3A+Electric+Cars+Glide+to+200-Mile+Range+&oq=Battery+Battle%3A+Electric+Cars+Glide+to+200-Mile+Range+&gs_l=news-cc.12..43j43i53.38796.38796.0.39826.1.1.0.0.0.0.78.78.1.1.0...0.0...1ac.1.PCpLEVPmbng" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;