Electric towed
Our next towed will probably be an electric car. We are considering a Nissan Leaf or a Tesla Model 3 (if it ever comes out and is actually cheaper than the Model S). Has anyone on the forum ever towed...
Forum Discussion
I expected that most EVs would need to be towed on a trailer, but I've found that you cannot always rely on the auto manufacturer or the user's guide to find the proper way of towing. For my Nissan Frontier the instructions in the user's guide for towing is in two different chapters (chapter 6 and chapter 9). In one area it says that towing with the rear wheels off the ground or completely on a trailer is the preferred method (Page 6-15). For towing behind an RV (page 9-35) it has a section on towing four flat. In that chapter is says to put the transmission in neutral and stop every 500 miles to start the engine for a few minutes. It says nothing about what position to place the key in - 'push', acc or on to disengage the steering lock.
I towed the Frontier several places with no problem with the key at acc, then I towed it again with the key at the acc position and the front brakes engaged. It cost over $2,100 to fix the brakes and some other things. One Nissan dealer in Fayetteville Arkansas said that the problem was placing the key in the acc position. Having the key in the acc position never hurt the Frontier before or after. It also never hurt our Dodge RAM that we always pulled with the key in the acc position. Neither of the dealers that we asked, nor a person at the Nissan 800 help line had any idea of what caused the brake problem, nor could they tell me what position to place the key in so that the steering lock was disengaged. My final solution was to disconnect the Frontier battery and power the automatic brake (Blue Ox Patriot) with a cord that I installed to the RV coach battery. Yes, it erases the radio presets, but I've had no other problems with it.
Anyway, I am concerned about how to best tow a soon to be (2016 or 2017)electric car. On a trailer would be best, but I hate to have a trailer to deal with whenever we stop. As for charging, we have solar panels and at least for Nissan, they said that all Nissan dealerships have electric charging stations for their electric cars. Also, I think that they said that the Leaf has solar panels on the roof.
I towed the Frontier several places with no problem with the key at acc, then I towed it again with the key at the acc position and the front brakes engaged. It cost over $2,100 to fix the brakes and some other things. One Nissan dealer in Fayetteville Arkansas said that the problem was placing the key in the acc position. Having the key in the acc position never hurt the Frontier before or after. It also never hurt our Dodge RAM that we always pulled with the key in the acc position. Neither of the dealers that we asked, nor a person at the Nissan 800 help line had any idea of what caused the brake problem, nor could they tell me what position to place the key in so that the steering lock was disengaged. My final solution was to disconnect the Frontier battery and power the automatic brake (Blue Ox Patriot) with a cord that I installed to the RV coach battery. Yes, it erases the radio presets, but I've had no other problems with it.
Anyway, I am concerned about how to best tow a soon to be (2016 or 2017)electric car. On a trailer would be best, but I hate to have a trailer to deal with whenever we stop. As for charging, we have solar panels and at least for Nissan, they said that all Nissan dealerships have electric charging stations for their electric cars. Also, I think that they said that the Leaf has solar panels on the roof.
