This year’s energy consumption during the Lunar New Year trip
I drove my ET5, which is equipped with 19-inch wheels, for a round trip of over 750km. Since I needed the car for long distance travel and did not have high requirements for performance, I did not spend extra money on the wheels when I purchased the car.
One week before the trip, I rented a battery with a capacity of 100 degrees to alleviate any range anxiety concerns, which turned out to be a wise choice. On the way back, I estimated the remaining range and drove to the charging station with less than 10km left.
I did not intentionally turn off the air conditioning or any other comfort features on the road. Since I was traveling alone, I did not want to compromise my comfort. I adjusted the temperature according to my preferences, used the heated steering wheel and seats when it got cold, played music, and switched the massage mode of the seats periodically.
I enabled the autopilot (with NOP+) throughout the entire journey and only manually intervened during entering and exiting roadways, and in traffic jams. I kept my speed below the speed limit.
On January 14th, I traveled to Fujian from Shanghai in rainy and foggy weather, and stopped at two charging stations for a break.
The first segment was from Shanghai to Dongyang Service Area. I started with around 93% battery capacity and drove continuously for four hours. When I arrived and saw the queue, I handed over my NFC card to the staff and went to the service building to take care of personal matters. I used approximately 60 degrees of battery power to travel the 285km distance.
For the second segment, since there were not many charging stations on the highway in Fujian, I prepared to use the self-service charging stations at Yunhe Service Area. Surprisingly, there were no long lines and when I arrived, I automatically placed an order and was able to quickly charge my car.This section of the road is 169 kilometers long, and the battery level is at 39%.
On the last section of the road to Fujian, there was no battery exchange. The distance was 303 kilometers, it took 200 minutes, and I drove directly home using about 60% of the battery (the battery was fully charged at 70%, and it was about 92% when charged at the exchange station).
On January 26th, the weather was very good. I departed from Fujian with a full battery and headed to Shanghai. When I got to Zhejiang, the road started getting congested, and I felt tired, so I rested a few times.
However, I only exchanged batteries once, which was equivalent to conducting one high-speed endurance test.
The first section of the road was the same as the outbound journey. I also chose to exchange batteries at the Yunhe service area. The distance was 303 kilometers, it took about 200 minutes, and I used about 65% of the battery.
After exchanging batteries, the estimated remaining range for my destination was increased by less than 40km.
I was then challenged: I originally planned to exchange batteries at Dongyang Service Area or Changan Service Area.
However, plans change quickly. When I arrived at the service area, I found that the waiting time was a bit too long, and I didn’t want to spend too much time at the service area. So, after resting for a bit and observing the charging station, I decided to push my limits and continue towards Shanghai.The charging piles at the service area on the way were also in a long line. The privilege of changing to a charging spot by finding the service personnel was of no use in the end.
After passing the new bridge toll station and entering Shanghai, it became dark. My estimated remaining range was only 30km, and then I had to continue to the battery swap station in Jiading Fengzhuang.
The estimated remaining range I saw along the way decreased step by step. It’s impossible to say that I wasn’t nervous at all. However, I persisted and finally arrived at the battery swap station.
During the trip, the nop+ also worked normally when the battery was low, which was great.
Finally, the whole journey was over 750km. The first leg was 300 kilometers, and the et5 successfully ran 450 kilometers with 92% battery power left.
Finally, let’s share some local snacks.
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.