Day 1, September 9, 2021: Guangdong Foshan to Hunan Hengyang
Started at 8: 30 AM and arrived at Hunan Hengyang at 6 PM, just like commuting during rush hours. Covered a total of 600 kilometers with ease.
Drove for 7 hours and charged twice for a total of 80 minutes.
Tesla’s autopilot driving assistance feature was the major factor for an easy drive. Thanks to having Full Self-Driving capability, the automatic lane change with turn signal and the autonomous lane change with Navigate on Autopilot (NoA) were very convenient. The morning drive for 3.5 hours and 300 km was completed without any signs of fatigue.
Stopped for lunch at a service station on Shaoguan Expressway for food and charging. Charging speed was excellent, reaching over 80 kW. Fully charged after finishing lunch in about 45 minutes. The most satisfactory charging plan is to combine it with mealtime.
Entered Hunan after leaving Shaoguan in the afternoon. The charging stations changed from Southern Grid to State Grid, resulting in some differences. Compared with the Southern Grid stations, State Grid’s stations have generally lower speeds. Encountered two stations with 17 kW and 27 kW which were unsatisfactory due to a higher frequency of unsuccessful charging attempts, perhaps due to imperfect charging protocols?
Although charging speed was slower, the number of charging stations was satisfactory. Almost every service area from Guangzhou to Shaoguan on the Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Macau expressway in Guangdong Province was marked with a charging station, even for those without one yet, the signage has already reserved a position for a charging station (as shown below). It is believed that more charging stations will be installed soon.
Most service areas between Shaoguan and Hengyang also have charging stations with only a few places without one for consecutive service areas. The power of the national grid stations between Shaoguan and Hengyang is lower due to early construction, but at least it gives a sense of security due to the number of stations.
Although today was just a journey of rushing, it was still fascinating to see the scenery along the way. After entering Qingyuan City, the continuous karst landforms were alluring, just like the grassland in Teletubbies.
Seeing the hills of Danxia landform for the first time in Shaoguan was quite unique. Traveling thousands of miles and reading thousands of books, these terms are familiar yet strange when seen with my own eyes.
There is a Tesla supercharging station in Hengyang. When we arrived in Hengyang, my wife asked if Hengyang was a big city. I didn’t know, but after seeing an advertisement for “5-digit house prices” (within two kilometers of the city government), we had a rough idea of what level of city it was. It seems that the level of a city determines the price of houses, which in turn affects the impression of the city, especially for outsiders. In the past, some cities have tried to improve their image by simply raising house prices, just like adding fuel to a fire, which causes great harm in the end.
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.