充電難 特斯拉中國遇挫

BEIJING — For $104,000, Yu Hangmei expected a car that could, at the very least, be driven. What Ms. Yu said she got instead was a new electric Tesla Model S sedan and a malfunctioning charging station.

北京——俞韓梅原本以爲，花了65萬元人民幣，買到的車至少應該能開。不過，俞女士表示，自己得到的是一輛嶄新的特斯拉Model S電動轎車，以及一根不能用的充電樁。

While driving through her town in coastal Zhejiang Province recently, Ms. Yu, 45, realized that even though she had plugged in the vehicle, the battery was almost dead. “I thought after a day of charging it was fully charged, but turns out it wasn’t charged at all,” said Ms. Yu, an artifact exporter. Tesla owners need an electric charger specifically calibrated to the vehicle’s voltage and current requirements, still something of a rarity near her home. “Luckily I bumped into a fellow Tesla owner online who let me charge at his place. It took three hours.”

不久前在沿海省份浙江的家鄉開車時，45歲的俞女士意識到，雖然之前把車接上了插座，但電池還是基本沒電。“我以爲充了一天應該滿了，結果根本就沒充上，”從事商品出口業務的餘女士稱。特斯拉車主需要一種專門適配其電壓與電流要求的充電器，而這一要求在她家附近仍然很少能得到滿足。“幸虧我在網上碰到了另一個開特斯拉的人，讓我到他那裏去充電。花了三個小時。”

Tesla owners in China are a well-connected bunch. Not only do they tend to be wealthy, but their avid use of social media means word of such car problems can spread in minutes. And finding charging stations is a regular complaint.

中國的特斯拉車主是個有影響力的羣體。他們不僅往往很富有，還喜歡使用社交網絡。後者意味着，此類用車問題可以不一會兒功夫就傳播開來。尋找充電樁是其中一個普遍的抱怨。

It is proving to be a major issue for Tesla’s grand designs in the world’s largest auto market.

事實證明，對於在中國這個世界最大的汽車市場中有宏大布局的特斯拉而言，充電是一個大問題。

China would seem to have all the right ingredients for Tesla, which is based in Palo Alto, Calif. The country has the second-highest number of millionaires worldwide, after the United States. And the government sees electric vehicles as a tool for fiXing the nation’s notorious smog problem.

對總部位於美國加利福尼亞州帕洛阿爾託的特斯拉來說，中國似乎具備一切它需要的東西。這裏有全球第二多的百萬富豪，僅次於美國。中國政府也視電動車爲解決其惡名遠揚的霧霾問題的一種途徑。

But the company has stumbled in China as it tried to attract customers. Worries about charging infrastructure and an official bias toward bolstering homegrown competition may have contributed to the company’s lackluster Chinese performance last year, which ended with the resignation of Tesla’s China president.

然而，在盡力吸引中國客戶的過程中，公司卻遭遇了麻煩。人們對充電基礎設施的擔憂，加上官方支持國產品牌競爭的偏袒，或許在一定程度上造成了特斯拉去年在中國市場上的平淡表現。這種業績最終導致了特斯拉中國區總裁離職。

China is expected to be a trouble spot in Tesla's earnings, which the company is set to report on Wednesday. Speaking in Detroit last month, Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, acknowledged that sales in China were “unexpectedly weak” at the end of 2014. He blamed a “misperception about charging,” saying owners worried they would not be able to power up their vehicles at home.

公司定於週三公佈財報，預計中國業務將成爲其中拖後腿的部分。上個月在底特律講話時，特斯拉的首席執行官埃隆·馬斯克(Elon Musk)承認，截至2014年底在中國取得的銷售額“出乎預料地疲軟”。他將其歸咎於“有關充電的誤解”，稱車主們擔心不能在家充電。

Tesla is racing to get on Chinese maps. Since the carmaker began delivering its Model S sedans to China last April, it has built 52 free rapid Supercharger stations in 20 cities and set up about 800 other charging stations at malls, hotels and restaurants in over 70 cities. The Supercharger stations fully charge a car in about an hour.

特斯拉在爭分奪秒地搶灘中國市場。自從去年4月開始向中國用戶交付Model S電動轎車以來，特斯拉已在20座城市興建了52座能提供免費快充服務的超級充電站，還在逾70座城市的商場、酒店和餐廳設立了大約800根充電樁。超級充電站可以在一小時左右的時間裏爲一輛車充滿電。

There are now nine stores and service centers in metropolises like Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, which is already one of Tesla’s highest grossing stores worldwide, the company reported in its third-quarter 2014 shareholder letter. The United States has over 60 Tesla stores and more than 40 service centers.

目前，特斯拉在北京、上海和深圳等大都市建有九座體驗和服務中心。根據公司向股東發出的2014年第三季度業績函，中國已經是世界範圍內擁有中心數量最多的幾個國家之一。美國有逾60家特斯拉門店及逾40家服務中心。

“In the past few months, Tesla has made great progress in China,” the company’s China office said in an email.

“在進入中國的半年時間裏，特斯拉的發展取得了諸多成績 ，”公司的中國辦公室在郵件中這樣寫道。

But the results have been tepid. So far, Tesla has exported around 3,500 cars to China, missing the company’s sales goal of 5,000 in the country, which accounts for 30 percent of its global target. Over all, some 80,000 electric and hybrid vehicles were sold in the country last year, according to Yale Zhang, the managing director of Automotive Foresight, a consulting firm in Shanghai.

不過，它的業績並不亮眼。迄今爲止，特斯拉向中國的出口量爲3500輛左右，未能達到爲這一市場設立的5000輛銷售目標——這一數字佔到公司全球目標的30%。上海諮詢公司汽車市場預測(Automotive Foresight)的總監張豫(Yale Zhang)表示，電動車與混合動力車加起來，去年在中國市場總共售出了大概8萬輛。

The Chinese government aims to put half a million electric cars or plug-in hybrids on the roads by this year and five million by 2020. To encourage drivers to go green, domestic electric cars receive a combined subsidy from the central and local governments of 120,000 renminbi, or about $19,000. While Tesla owners are not eligible for those subsidies because the cars are foreign-made, the city of Shanghai offers free license plates for all electric car brands, saving drivers around $12,000 in fees. These include 400 Tesla owners who received the plates in October.

中國政府的目標是，今年讓50萬輛電動車及插電式混合動力車上路，到2020年則是500萬輛。爲了鼓勵車主綠色出行，國產品牌的電動車可以從中央和地方政府那裏獲得共12萬元人民幣的補貼。由於特斯拉爲國外生產的車輛，車主不能享受這樣的補貼，但上海市出臺的爲所有電動車免除牌照費的規定，能爲他們省下7.5萬元左右的費用。去年10月，拿到免費牌照的車主中，就包括400名特斯拉用戶。

However, given the six-figure price tag — compared with $70,000 in the United States — the lack of subsidies is not a dealbreaker for Chinese Tesla owners. “Frankly, it really makes no difference to the people who can afford a Tesla,” Mr. Zhang said. “Tesla has succeeded not as a popular model but by being perceived as a rich person’s toy.”

不過，考慮到特斯拉六位數的價籤——相比之下在美國的售價則爲7萬美元（約合44萬元人民幣）——缺乏補貼並不會讓中國車主望而卻步。“說實話，對於能買得起特斯拉的人，這也沒什麼區別，”張豫說。“特斯拉的成功，不是因爲車受歡迎，而是因爲被人看成富人的玩具。”

A bigger concern for them is where to charge their vehicles. Unlike car owners in the United States, many of whom live in houses with a garage, the majority of Chinese urban housing consists of low-rise multifamily units. Thus, installing residential charging facilities means negotiating with property managers or neighbors.

在他們看來，更大的問題是到哪裏去給車充電。美國的小汽車所有者中，許多人居住的房子都有車庫，而大多數中國城市的住房是由多戶人家共用的低層單元樓。因此，安裝家庭充電設施意味着要與物業經理或鄰居進行協商。

Xie Yujian, 39, the owner of an international trading company in coastal Hangzhou, parks four of his cars at his apartment garage but had the Tesla charger installed at his factory. “I heard you have to apply with the property company to get that type of wiring so I just couldn’t be bothered,” he said.

39歲的謝玉堅在沿海的杭州市經營着一家國際貿易公司，他把自己的四輛車停在公寓的車庫裏，但在自己的工廠裏安裝了特斯拉的充電器。“我聽說必須向物業公司申請，才能架設這種線路，我不願意找這個麻煩，”他說。

Mr. Xie enjoys taking his Tesla on short trips, though not the wait that comes with recharging. In Hangzhou, it takes him two to three hours total for supercharging, including the journey, he said. “I think this is probably one of the biggest challenges Tesla has to overcome.”

謝玉堅喜歡駕駛他的特斯拉進行短途旅行，但不喜歡充電需要的等待。他說，在杭州，用超級充電站充電總共需要兩到三小時的時間，包括路上的時間。“我認爲這可能是特斯拉需要克服的最大挑戰之一。”

Tesla is hampered by concerns over its relatively tiny charging network compared with traditional gas stations or charging stations in overseas markets. While China has 52 free Supercharger stations, it lags Europe, which has over 120, as well as the United States, home to more than 150.

與傳統的加油站和海外的充電站相比，特斯拉在中國的充電網絡相對較小，這阻礙了特斯拉的普及。儘管中國擁有52個免費的超級充電站，但這個數量遠遠落後於歐洲和美國，歐洲有超過120個這樣的充電站，而美國則有超過150個。

“It will take time to build out a comprehensive charging infrastructure across the whole country,” Tesla’s China office said.

“在全國範圍打造綜合的充電基礎設施需要花費一定的時間，”特斯拉的中國辦公室說。

In addition to building more Supercharger stations, Tesla plans to deliver to China high-power wall chargers for home use in the first half of this year. These will reduce the time it takes to achieve a full charge — which lasts 310 miles — to five hours, from 10.

除了建造更多超級充電站，特斯拉還計劃在今年上半年向中國提供大功率的家用牆體充電器。這些充電器把爲一輛車充滿電所需的時間從10小時減少到了5小時。一次充滿電後，特斯拉汽車可以連續行駛310英里（約合500公里）。

But current drivers have already found a workaround of sorts for their charging needs. Hundreds of Tesla owners are members of group chats on the popular social messaging platforms QQ and Weixin, which they use to talk shop, share complaints with upper management and arrange to charge their cars at one another’s homes. They call it “stealing electricity.”

但當下，司機已經爲自己的充電需求找到了各種變通方案。在頗受歡迎的社交即時通訊平臺QQ和微信上，數百名特斯拉車主加入了羣聊，利用這些平臺交流、分享對上層管理的不滿以及安排去彼此家裏充電。他們稱之爲“偷電”。

Xiao Zufu, 44, who works in brand sales, needed to do just that on a recent trip from his home in Zhejiang Province to Shanghai, about 380 kilometers or 236 miles away. In an unfamiliar town and his battery down to about 60 kilometers of charge left, he used QQ to find a fellow Tesla owner nearby who let him charge his battery.

44歲的蕭祖付從事的是品牌銷售工作。前不久從浙江的家裏開車去大約380公里外的上海時，他就需要這麼做。當時，在一個人生地不熟的城鎮中，他的電池所剩電量只夠再行駛大約60公里。於是他通過QQ找到了附近的一名特斯拉車主，對方讓他給電池充上了電。

“It was a bit embarrassing,” he said. “If I’m driving a diesel car, even if the light has turned yellow I’m confident there’s still about 50 kilometers left in the car. But with electric cars I don’t really know for sure.”

“有點尷尬，”他說。“如果我開的是柴油車，即便是亮了黃燈，我也有把握還能再開大約50公里。但對電動汽車，我就真的不確定了。”

Still, most Tesla drivers appear to be forgiving of the company’s growing pains, particularly those among China’s equivalent of Silicon Valley. “We chose to be lab rats,” said Chen Zhong, 32, the chief marketing officer of an online media company in Beijing who bought a Tesla Model S last year. For these early adopters with money to spend, the car symbolizes the high-tech culture they adore. “The first time I drove it I thought I was driving an iPad.” Owning a Tesla, he added, “makes us Internet technology people feel superior.”

但大部分特斯拉司機，似乎都原諒了該公司給人帶來的日漸增多的麻煩，特別是相當於中國的硅谷一族的那些人。“我們選擇了當小白鼠，”32歲的陳中說。去年，在北京一家網絡媒體公司擔任首席市場官的他買了一輛特斯拉Model S。對於這些較早購買特斯拉的多金人士而言，這款車象徵着他們所崇尚的高科技文化。“第一次開的時候，我感覺開的是一臺iPad。”他還說，有一輛特斯拉“讓我們互聯網技術人感到高人一等”。

Wei Jianguo, 40, an angel investor in Hangzhou, owns a Tesla in addition to a Mercedes-Benz S350 and a BMW 3 Series Gran Turismo. He does not mind the headache of finding charging stations, a problem he expects will disappear as China expands its electric vehicle infrastructure.

40歲的魏建國是杭州的一名天使投資人。除了特斯拉外，他還有一輛梅賽德斯-奔馳(Mercedes-Benz)S350和一輛寶馬(BMW)3系列Gran Turismo。對找充電樁這個令人頭疼的問題，他並不介意。他預計，這個問題會隨着中國擴建自己的電動車輛基礎設施而消失。

“It’s just like when cars first came out and affected the businesses of horse rides,” he said.

“就像汽車剛問世的時候影響到了騎馬出行的業務一樣，”他說。