????身為年輕的電動(dòng)汽車(chē)制造商特斯拉汽車(chē)公司（Tesla Motors）的首席執(zhí)行官，埃隆?穆斯克根本無(wú)暇休息,。

????去年年初,，特斯拉遭到《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》（New York Times）一位作者的抨擊。這位作者指責(zé)特斯拉的車(chē)無(wú)法經(jīng)受住美國(guó)東北部冬季惡劣天氣的考驗(yàn),。隨著公司股價(jià)因這篇報(bào)道大幅下挫，穆斯克開(kāi)始公開(kāi)譴責(zé)《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》有意歪曲報(bào)道該公司的試駕過(guò)程,。

????幾個(gè)月前,，三輛特斯拉電動(dòng)車(chē)在發(fā)生碰撞后分別起火。由于這幾起事故間隔時(shí)間很短——只有兩個(gè)月,，因此美國(guó)國(guó)家公路交通安全局（National Highway Traffic Safety Administration）開(kāi)始介入調(diào)查,。

????因此意料之中的是，本周特斯拉因?yàn)檎倩厥录俅紊钕葺浾撲鰷u,。這次召回（從技術(shù)上說(shuō),，就是一次無(wú)線(xiàn)軟件升級(jí)）涉及到29,000個(gè)2013款Model S電動(dòng)車(chē)的充電適配器。這些設(shè)備的主要風(fēng)險(xiǎn)在于可能引發(fā)火災(zāi),。

????盡管這件事三天前就已經(jīng)公之于眾了,，但媒體直到今天才抓住它大做文章，因?yàn)榻裉煺檬堑滋芈杀泵绹?guó)際車(chē)展正式開(kāi)幕的第二天,。所以就有了現(xiàn)在這出戲：關(guān)于特斯拉深陷危機(jī)的報(bào)道鋪天蓋地,，哪怕這次升級(jí)實(shí)際上影響到的特斯拉電動(dòng)車(chē)似乎還不到3%（不過(guò)這一次，這家公司的股價(jià)沒(méi)有受到?jīng)_擊。召回事件見(jiàn)諸媒體后,，它反而帶來(lái)了遠(yuǎn)高于預(yù)期的銷(xiāo)量,，并有望推動(dòng)銷(xiāo)量迅猛增長(zhǎng)）。

????五年來(lái),，穆斯克和他的公司一直在打一場(chǎng)持久戰(zhàn)——不是為了汽車(chē)動(dòng)力系統(tǒng)的未來(lái)而戰(zhàn),，而是為了掌控公司在媒體上的形象而戰(zhàn)。事實(shí)上,，這是穆斯克成為汽車(chē)業(yè)媒體寵兒時(shí)所簽下的魔鬼契約的部分后果：在媒體上頻頻露面并不總是好事,。

????問(wèn)題在于：特斯拉公司與媒體愛(ài)恨交加的關(guān)系綁架了人們圍繞電動(dòng)汽車(chē)的整體討論。很多人對(duì)電動(dòng)汽車(chē)的擔(dān)憂(yōu)是實(shí)實(shí)在在的,，因?yàn)檫@種車(chē)的性能現(xiàn)在確實(shí)不如汽油車(chē),。它們開(kāi)著開(kāi)著就會(huì)沒(méi)電，把乘客們撂在路上,。一出事故它們就會(huì)起火,，甚至充電時(shí)也會(huì)起火。

????但多數(shù)人所不知道或故意忽視的是,，汽油車(chē)也會(huì)動(dòng)力不足,，沒(méi)油或是起火。而且每年都會(huì)有一定數(shù)量的汽油車(chē)出現(xiàn)這些情況,。

????這種情況穆斯克當(dāng)然心知肚明,。他對(duì)人們對(duì)電動(dòng)汽車(chē)先入為主的成見(jiàn)很在意——撇開(kāi)原則不說(shuō)，它會(huì)直接影響他生意的成敗,。最近,，通用汽車(chē)公司（General Motors）剛剛召回了37萬(wàn)輛汽油皮卡，因?yàn)檫@些車(chē)的軟件可能引發(fā)自燃,，而且確實(shí)發(fā)生了至少八起自燃事件,。盡管如此，真正站在媒體聚光燈下遭到千夫所指,、滿(mǎn)頭大汗的卻還是特斯拉公司,。通用召回的汽車(chē)數(shù)量是特斯拉2014年預(yù)期銷(xiāo)量的十幾倍，但通用及其汽車(chē)在購(gòu)車(chē)者心目中卻不太可能和自燃風(fēng)險(xiǎn)扯上關(guān)系,。這就是為何特斯拉的召回規(guī)模雖小,，影響卻極為重大的根本原因。

????不過(guò)請(qǐng)注意,，不是說(shuō)因此就要和通用汽車(chē)大干一場(chǎng),。我們只是呼吁大家對(duì)特斯拉及其電動(dòng)汽車(chē)同行要高抬貴手一點(diǎn)，不要那么苛刻,?？紤]到發(fā)生故障車(chē)輛的實(shí)際數(shù)字,，這種請(qǐng)求并不過(guò)分。

????特斯拉第一輛電動(dòng)車(chē)下線(xiàn)時(shí),，它并不需要費(fèi)勁氣力向第一批來(lái)自硅谷的富豪買(mǎi)家證明,，電動(dòng)汽車(chē)才是未來(lái)交通工具的代表，因?yàn)檫@些買(mǎi)家早就對(duì)此深信不疑,。不過(guò)如果特斯拉想要最終征服大眾市場(chǎng),，它就必須讓大家相信，它現(xiàn)在的這些技術(shù)故障實(shí)屬平常,，而且實(shí)際上它的故障率已經(jīng)優(yōu)于行業(yè)平均水平,。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：清遠(yuǎn)???

????Elon Musk, chief executive of the young electric automaker Tesla Motors (TSLA), can't catch a break.

????Early last year, Tesla came under fire by a New York Times writer for producing vehicles that weren't up to the difficulties of driving in a winter in the northeastern U.S. With his company's stock slipping, Musk took the Times to task publicly for misrepresenting its test drive.

????Several months ago, three separate Tesla vehicles caught fire after involvement in a collision. The brief window in which they occurred -- just two months -- spurred the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open an inquiry.

????So it comes as no surprise, then, that the company is in hot water again this week for issuing a recall (technically, an over-the-air software update) concerning 29,000 charging adapters for its 2013 Model S electric cars. The risk?Potential fire hazard.

????Though the issue was first made public three days prior, the press latched onto the news today, one day after the official opening of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. And so it goes: wall-to-wall coverage of Tesla's troubles, even though the update appears to affect fewer than 3% of its vehicles. (This time, the company's stock remains unaffected. It helps to post higher-than-expected sales and promise "reckless growth" shortly after making a recall public.)

????For five years, Musk and company have been waging a war not over the future of the automotive powertrain but control over the company's narrative. It's a part of the devil's bargain Musk struck when he became the industry's media darling: lots of press doesn't necessarily guarantee that it will be good.

????Here's the problem: The company's love-hate relationship with the press is hijacking the conversation around electric vehicles as a whole. For many people, fear about electric cars is real: They can't perform as well as gasoline-powered vehicles. They'll run out of charge and strand their passengers. They'll catch fire when involved in an accident. They'll catch fire when they're charging.

????What they don't know or choose to ignore: that gasoline-powered cars can be underpowered, under-fueled and catch fire, too. And a small number do, every year.

????Musk knows this. He's sensitive about the preconceptions people have about electric vehicles -- principles aside, it directly affects the success of his business. Yet it's still his company sweating in the limelight, even as General Motors (GM) works its way through a recent recall of 370,000 gasoline-powered trucks for a software-derived fire hazard blamed for at least eight known fires. That's more than 10 times the number of vehicles Tesla hopes to sell in 2014, though it's unlikely that GM or its vehicles will be closely associated with risk of fire in the minds of buyers. Which is why Tesla's tiny recall really matters.

????This isn't a call to arms against GM, mind you. It's a suggestion to be a little easier on Tesla and its electric-powered peers. Based on the numbers, it's only fair.

????When its first vehicles rolled off the production line, Tesla didn't need to make a strong case to its initial well-heeled, Silicon Valley-based customers that electric cars were the future; they were already converts. If Tesla hopes to succeed as an eventual electric automaker to the masses, it must convince people that its technical troubles are not unusual, but in fact better than the industry average.