Mystery Solved? CNBC Reporter drives Tesla up I-95 without incident

Thanks to a friendly neighbor up north, I think we can say the Model S runs great over long distances and in the cold, eh?

CNBC's Philip LeBeau reporter made the trek up I-95, in the cold, and documented the drive on CNBC's website. It's fun to watch, and you can see his report here.

Range anxiety? What range anxiety? Car works great!

The same trip that vexed, flustered and flummoxed New York Times Reporter John Broder was a lovely jaunt for LeBeau.

With 61 miles to go until the next charging station in Milford Connecticut, LeBeau is calm composed. "I know I have at least 110 miles of battery charge to go."

And charge away he does. "One thing stands out" says LeBeau. "This is a car that you can drive over long distances, but you've got to manage."

Yeah. Just like with a gas-powered car. It's an internal combustion engine, not a perpetual motion machine. And we, as a society, are much more like to have a gasoline shortage than an electricity shortage.

But the promise of LeBleu's story is about so much more than a spat about batteries. Tesla Motors offers the promise of fresh air. Fresh, clean air in and around our major cities and transportation hubs.

Think about. No more children wheezing as they clutch their asthma inhalers. A drastic reduction in the number of strokes and heart attacks among the elderly. No more smog.

But what of the doubters? The New York Times is still unapologetic for John Broder's Model S meltdown. Three days after CNBC broadcast LeBeau's trek from D.C. to Boston, the Grey Lady published an article about the firestorm Broder had created. "After a charging system test, a debate rages online," said the article, viewable here. It quoted various twitter feeds and blog postings. The article did not mention the Model S's flawless performance when objectively operated.

What can be said to doubters of this promising new technology? Perhaps I shall leave the last word on this matter to Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

"The good thing about science," he says, "is that it is true whether or not you believe it."

Thanks, Neil. Call me biased, but I'm going with science on this one.