Driving in China

[HKS60]

I recently took a Tesla to China and noted the following:

- Google maps and Spotify don’t work
- China chargers use GB/T 2015 instead of IEC TYPE 2 and you would need to buy an adaptor in Tesla or you won’t be able the charge. The adaptor costs north of HKD 3000 in Hong Kong and is only applicable for super chargers. A separate adaptor, which comes in the package if the adaptor is purchased in China, is needed for 32A and other types of chargers.
- Superchargers are mostly located not on service stops next to highways but maybe a well 10-20km away from highway exits. This I assume is due to the fact that China want to reserve highway service stop chargers to the state owned chargers or Chinese branded electric cars. Tesla is therefore only able to do deals with private companies which don’t happen to be located right next to highways.
- Autopilot works on almost all roads with distinctive road markings but speed is limited to 70km/h for some highways (which is very slow). I assume this is due to the GPS not recognising the highway I was on and therefore limited the max autopilot speed?

Anyone else have interesting findings or tips for using their HK tesla in China?

 

[FequalsMA]

I recently took a Tesla to China and noted the following:

- Google maps and Spotify don’t work

Can you get a HK SIM and tether?

- Autopilot works on almost all roads with distinctive road markings but speed is limited to 70km/h for some highways (which is very slow). I assume this is due to the GPS not recognising the highway I was on and therefore limited the max autopilot speed?

You couldn't manually override for a higher speed?

 

[LoveEV]

Why wouldn’t the gps or sat nav work? Is it not speaking to the mothership?

 

[markwj]

Why wouldn’t the gps or sat nav work? Is it not speaking to the mothership?

Google is blocked in China.

 

[HKS60]

Can you get a HK SIM and tether?



You couldn't manually override for a higher speed?

I have not tried the tethering but I believe this could not work：as soon as i cross into China there is still HK LTE (and not roaming) reception but a message “Google Maps cannot be used in China” appears on the map. I will try that next weekend maybe.

The autopilot override above 70km/h on certain highways would not work. But it is totally random. On the same “G” highways there are certain sections which allow autopilot to function normally while some only allow 70km/h.

I did further research on the charging options and noted that:

- most Chinese public or privately owned high speed chargers are GB 2011 / 2015 DC configurations, which means the same adaptor for HK IEC Type 2 and Chinese Tesla Superchargers can be used (no need to buy the AC adaptor unless you plan for destination charging on slow and medium speed chargers.

- Tesla recommends to only charge on GB 2015. Apparently not all chargers label themselves as 2011 or 2015 so certain apps are required to identify these 2015 chargers.

- The state owned chargers are located at much more convienent places such as highway service stops. This would drastically reduce travelling time as Tesla Superchargers would definitely require significant detours out of highways. Unfortunately the cost is hefty at around 1.3 RMB / Kwh. (Which I roughly calculated to be not much cheaper than the fuel cost in China)

- State owned chargers do come in 120Kw so they are comparable to the Tesla supercharging speeds.

- you would need Chinese WeChat wallet to pay.