Electric Vehicle Toad ???

We are fairly up on the current crop of EV's on the road as well as a few just coming out. I am not aware of any that can be towed four down. We have two cars. Both are EV's. We tow our smart ED on a trailer. Our leaf can be towed on a Dolly with the front wheels raised.

I think as Electric vehicles become more common there will be an up tick in the demand for dollies as presently there is no other way to tow them.

I saw a nice looking country coach towing a Tesla S on a trailer a few weeks back. Kinda pretty.

The tesla 3 goes into production at the end of next month. I think it is rear drive so it would have to be towed rear wheels up.

The new leaf set to be announced on Sept 6 will be front wheel drive so it is a candidate for a dollie.

pianotuna wrote:
Those are hybrids, not BEV. I wonder if the totally electric fusion can be towed "4 down".

WayneLee wrote:
FYI... For those of you that think "Green":

The Ford Fusion Energyi, and C-Max Energyi are both plug-in hybrids and can be towed 4 down. The EV range for the Fusion, depending on how you drive, is 12-19 miles. The 2018's are rated for 21 EV miles. The C-Max is about the same. In fact, almost ALL of Fords autos are towable 4 down.

A complete charge for a dead battery on my Fusion Energyi takes about 4 hours on 120 volts at less than 20 amps. On a high speed, 240 volt charger, it takes 2 hours at about 16 amps.

The Fusion and C-Max have a CVT transmission. For towing, you put the transmission in neutral, turn the car off and remove the key. Yep, the steering wheel does not lock down when you pull out the key.

...And furthermore, these hybrids, cannot be towed 4 down with the ignition 'ON', so you will not be recharging the batteries, nor getting any recharging from braking. You have to turn the ignition to ACC, which shuts off regenerative braking, and disconnects the large batteries, so no recharging going to them.

Ford specifically instructs you to tow it this way, and I found out the hard way once with our Hybrid Fusion why, when accidentally left it 'ON' and started towing. That thing jerked and hopped around sooo bad, I quickly realized my mistake, stopped, and switched ignition to ACC, and it was fine. Never made that mistake again. :)

Those are hybrids, not BEV. I wonder if the totally electric fusion can be towed "4 down".

WayneLee wrote:
FYI... For those of you that think "Green":

The Ford Fusion Energyi, and C-Max Energyi are both plug-in hybrids and can be towed 4 down. The EV range for the Fusion, depending on how you drive, is 12-19 miles. The 2018's are rated for 21 EV miles. The C-Max is about the same. In fact, almost ALL of Fords autos are towable 4 down.

A complete charge for a dead battery on my Fusion Energyi takes about 4 hours on 120 volts at less than 20 amps. On a high speed, 240 volt charger, it takes 2 hours at about 16 amps.

The Fusion and C-Max have a CVT transmission. For towing, you put the transmission in neutral, turn the car off and remove the key. Yep, the steering wheel does not lock down when you pull out the key.

Well some interesting opinions.
But I'm not sure if it is "Theoretically possible"
Hopefully some of the very, wise, astute forum members, that we have, will throw in there $2 cents worth.

FYI... For those of you that think "Green":

The Ford Fusion Energyi, and C-Max Energyi are both plug-in hybrids and can be towed 4 down. The EV range for the Fusion, depending on how you drive, is 12-19 miles. The 2018's are rated for 21 EV miles. The C-Max is about the same. In fact, almost ALL of Fords autos are towable 4 down.

A complete charge for a dead battery on my Fusion Energyi takes about 4 hours on 120 volts at less than 20 amps. On a high speed, 240 volt charger, it takes 2 hours at about 16 amps.

The Fusion and C-Max have a CVT transmission. For towing, you put the transmission in neutral, turn the car off and remove the key. Yep, the steering wheel does not lock down when you pull out the key.

I suppose in theory you could but it would be extremely inefficient unless you could somehow harness regenerative braking energy from the coach. At any rate like was mentioned you can't pull an EV four down. I suppose you could charge the EV off the coach generator, but even if you could run 240V to an EV like a Nissan Leaf it takes 7 hours to charge. 7 hours at 1/2 gallon per hour with 80 miles per charge equals slightly less than 23 mpg. So much for efficiency. :)

So far as I am aware there are no BEV vehicles that can be towed four down.

It would be nice if it was smart enough to only charge while braking when being towed that would be a...win win

rbrand wrote:
It would seem to me that if you have a EV Toad and are towing 4 down then you, theoretically, should be able to charge the toad as you tow.

Sure; you're just going to use a lot more fuel with whatever you're towing it with.