Chinese businessman Zong Yi has created what he calls the first "electric vehicle charging road" from Beijing to Guangzhou as a way to solve the problem of a lack of Tesla charging stations in China.
Zong, from Guangzhou, came up with the idea after getting his new electric Tesla Model S sedan in May, the Wall Street Journal reported. Tesla Motors Inc. delivered its first cars to Chinese customers in Beijing in April, and there currently not enough charging facilities between the two cities that would let Zong drive his car back home.
Working with partners online, Zong bought 20 charging pillars from the electric car company for 5,000 yuan (about $800) and had them put in 16 cities between Guangzhou and Beijing. Installations were completed in June, and a Tesla spokeswoman said the company knows about Zong's work and approves of it.
"I thought it would be cool if I could build China's first electric-car-charging road," Zong said.
Beijing and Shanghai are the only places in China that have Tesla's charging stations, but they can be found in cities through the U.S. and Europe, Mashable reported.
20 charging stations are included in the charging road, which stretches 5,750 kilometers (3,750 miles) between Beijing and Guangzhou. Zong bought and donated the stations after contacting Wu Bixuan, the Tesla Motors executive in charge of Chinese operations. It takes seven to eight hours to fully charge a Tesla vehicle at the stations.
Zong said property owners would have to spend close to 30 yuan (about $5) on electricity for seven hours of charging, so he chose to let owners decide if they would offer the service with a charge or for free, Mashable reported. He said, for example, because drivers would have to stay at a hotel overnight while their electric car was charging, the hotel could increase business by hosting a charge station.
Zong also made adjustments to the charging stations so they could be used by electric cars from other companies, such as BYD. Over half of the 20 stations have been positioned at or near four-star hotels, the Wall Street Journal reported.
"These hotels have spacious parking lots, sufficient electric power and can offer 24/7 services. That's attractive to electric car drivers," Zong said.
Some of the sites have been listed here.
