電動汽車 只是看上去很美嗎

The great Chinese road trip is about to begin. In the next fortnight, tens of millions of motorists will shortly join at least 1bn others heading home for that mother of all Chinese holidays: lunar new year[15 feb].

一場宏大的公路旅行即將在中國上演。接下來的兩週，數千萬駕車者將很快加入另外至少10億返鄉者的隊伍，趕回家過中國人最重要的節日——春節。

My bronchial passages congest at the mere notion of so many pollution producers taking to the roads all at once. So I was delighted to learn that China’s State Grid had finished building quick-charging stations for electric cars along the 1,200km motorway from Shanghai to Beijing — and eager to give the vehicles a test drive. Xinhua, the state news agency, crowed proudly about the completion of 50 stations capable of charging eight cars each in 30 minutes flat.

一想到將有那麼多輛製造污染的汽車同時上路，我的支氣管就有點發堵。因此，得知中國國家電網(State Grid)已完成1200公里京滬高速沿線快速充電站的建設，我感到很欣慰，並且很想試駕一下電動汽車。官方通訊社新華社自豪地宣稱，這50座已建成的充電站每座能同時爲8輛汽車充電，每輛汽車的充電時間只要30分鐘。

And about time too: China is the world’s second-largest market for electric vehicles, and nouveau riche renminbi have poured into purchases of the Tesla model S, the coolest green motorcar on the block. For at least a decade, Beijing has been decanting subsidies into the creation of a homegrown electric vehicle industry, hoping to leapfrog conventional engines and go straight to world dominance of green car technology. And China’s air pollution problem is so big that it must, like the Great Wall, be visible from space. So selling electric cars here ought to be about as easy as selling protective face masks. But it’s not.

也確實應該有公共充電站了：中國是世界第二大電動車輛市場，許多土豪斥巨資購買了市面上最酷的綠色能源汽車——特斯拉S型(Tesla model S)。至少10年來，北京方面一直在投入鉅額補貼培育本土電動汽車產業，希望藉此跳過傳統汽車階段、一躍成爲世界綠色能源汽車技術的主導者。中國的空氣污染問題也如此嚴重，以至於從太空中肯定都可以看到中國的霧霾了，就像可以看到長城一樣。因此，在中國賣電動汽車理應像賣防護口罩一樣容易。然而事實卻並非如此。

Potential electric car buyers in China, like those everywhere else on Earth, worry a lot about how to charge their horseless chariots. Last month(Jan) Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla, said charging angst had hit the company’s fourth-quarter sales in the country. Mr Musk told Bloomberg that Chinese buyers have nothing to worry about.

中國的潛在電動汽車買家跟世界其他任何地方的潛在買家一樣，也非常擔心充電問題。上月，特斯拉首席執行官埃隆•馬斯克(Elon Musk)說，購車者對充電問題的擔憂對該公司第四季度在華銷量造成了衝擊。他向彭博社(Bloomberg)表示，中國購車者完全不需要擔心這個問題。

But Tesla cars can’t use the State Grid’s new charging stations, and a glance at a map of purpose-built Tesla charging stations between Shanghai and Beijing shows that drivers not only have to leave the motorway but often also drive for between 10km and 20km to find one. Small wonder they have what is known in the automotive world as “range anxiety”.

但特斯拉汽車無法使用國家電網新建的充電站。大致看一下京滬之間擬建的特斯拉汽車充電站分佈圖，你會發現，開特斯拉的人不僅得駛離高速公路，而且往往還得再開上10至20公里，才能找到一個特斯拉充電站。難怪他們會有汽車界所說的那種“續航里程焦慮”(range anxiety)。

So Tesla models can’t capitalise on the State Grid’s new voltage largesse but the rest of us can, right? With all those new charging stations promising to put cars back on the road in about the time it takes to wolf down some fermented “stinky tofu” or a bowl of noodles at the motorway canteen, what’s to be anxious about, I thought?

特斯拉汽車無法利用國家電網新建的充電站，但其他電動汽車還是可以的，對吧？我想，既然有那麼多新建的充電站承諾稱，在高速公路餐廳吃點“臭豆腐”或吃碗麪條的工夫，我們的汽車就能充好電重新上路，那還有什麼好擔心的？

Plenty: the stations aren’t open to the public yet. The State Grid hopes to make them operational in time for the annual insanity known as the chunyun or lunar new year migration — but I’m not betting my holiday on it.

實際上，要擔心的事兒還真不少：那些新的充電站還沒有對公衆開放。國家電網希望它們能在一年一度的瘋狂場面——即春運——到來之前投入使用，但我不會把我的假期押寶在它們能按時開放上。

No problem, I thought, I’ll do a bit of electric car tourism to somewhere not so far away , such as the suburb of Jiading, Shanghai’s own version of the Motor City, which has its own extensive network of charging stations. But quite apart from the fact that not even a Detroit native like me would voluntarily choose this heavily industrialised area for tourism, the rental car company told me that I wouldn’t be allowed to charge on the Jiading network anyway. Charging anywhere other than their own rental locations is forbidden.

沒關係，我想，我就開電動汽車去不那麼遠的地方逛逛好了，比如去趟郊區嘉定（上海版的汽車城），那裏建有大範圍的電動汽車充電站網絡。嘉定是個乏味的工業區，哪怕是像我這樣的底特律人也不會主動選擇去這裏旅遊；拋開這件事不說，汽車租賃公司還告訴我，我壓根兒就不能在嘉定的充電站網絡充電。除了租賃公司自己的網點，在其他任何地方充電都是不允許的。

So I decided to just zip around my own small corner of Shanghai in a rented Roewe E50, the “pure” electric runabout designed by SAIC, the state-owned Shanghai carmaker. I set off for what I thought would be a blissful weekend of carrying groceries and kids and dogs around town, without the usual hassle of public transport. With pollution about to hit the maximum reading on the air-quality metre that day, at many multiples of the global safety standard, I felt pretty good about my choice. Sure, the car could not manage 80km without being taken back in for a voltage fix. But I figured I could get my nails done while it drank the juice.

於是，我決定就開着租來的榮威E50 (Roewe E50)在我住的那一片轉悠一下。這款車是國有的上海汽車製造商上汽(SAIC)設計的“純”電動小汽車。開着它，我出發了，憧憬着將要度過的美好週末：車裏裝着採購的生活補給，載着孩子們和狗，在城裏兜風，不用去面對公交出行常常遭遇的煩惱。那天上海的空氣污染指數幾乎爆表，超出國際安全標準好幾倍，我爲自己的選擇感到慶幸。當然了，那輛車開不到80公里就得回站去充電。但我想，我可以利用它充電的時間做個指甲。

But after a few trips to Walmart and the school, my little car was telling me it felt rundown. So I turned up at the rental company to request my free top-up, only to be told it would take four hours. Fearful of being stranded in a little car full of kids and dogs and no power I returned the car early, hopping on a bus, which I noted ruefully was an electric one. Now I’m as green as the next guy (I commute by bus, give me a break) but I’ll be guzzling petrol on my holidays for a good while yet. Range anxiety is alive and well, and living in every sensible home in China.

然而，跑了幾趟沃爾瑪(Walmart)和學校之後，我的小車告訴我它快沒電了。於是我開到租賃公司門店，要求免費充電，結果被告知充電需要4個小時。因爲害怕這輛小車在我載着孩子們和狗開在路上的時候忽然沒電了，我提前把它還給了租賃公司，跳上了一輛公交車回家（我恨恨地發現這居然是輛電動公交車）。這下我跟別人一樣環保了（我都改公交出行了，你還想怎樣？），不過在未來相當長一段時間內，我在假期都會開汽油車出行。“續航里程焦慮”真實存在，縈繞在每一個理智的中國人心頭。