I was driving my EV Niro to a station, but it died before I could reach it. The charging station turned out to be broken. The car turns on, but I can’t drive it. Can I use my gas car to give it a little boost to get to a working charging station?
You could try what some call a “hillbilly recharge.” Attach the tow hook to the bumper and pull your Kia behind your gas car. The regenerative power of the electric motor could add charge to the battery pretty quickly. Pull it for a couple of miles and you might get 5-10 miles of charge, hopefully enough to reach a functional charger. Otherwise, you could call a tow truck or AAA to bring it to a DCFC station.
@Freeman
It’s actually regenerative braking. This could put a lot of strain on the car that’s pulling. Some cars aren’t really built to tow, so this could be hard on the car.
Ash said:
@Freeman
It’s actually regenerative braking. This could put a lot of strain on the car that’s pulling. Some cars aren’t really built to tow, so this could be hard on the car.
That’s why it’s called the hillbilly way…
@Freeman
Wait, really? That sounds great. Does someone need to be in the Kia to get it to work, or can it be done with just the gas car pulling it?
EvanSparks said:
@Freeman
Wait, really? That sounds great. Does someone need to be in the Kia to get it to work, or can it be done with just the gas car pulling it?
Both cars need to be driven for this to work. The EV should be in drive, and while the towing car pulls it, the electric motor uses the resistance to charge the battery. If your EV has regenerative charging options, you can use them as the car is being pulled.
@Freeman
Wow, that’s amazing. Thanks for the info.
@Freeman
Wouldn’t the EV need to be in Neutral to be towed? What’s Neutral for in an EV anyway? I just got mine and I have a lot of questions.
Keegan said:
@Freeman
Wouldn’t the EV need to be in Neutral to be towed? What’s Neutral for in an EV anyway? I just got mine and I have a lot of questions.
Neutral is typically for car washes where the rollers pull the car. The EV needs to be in Drive for the regenerative charging to work. You could tow it in Neutral, but you wouldn’t gain any charge. You can look up videos on YouTube to see it in action if that helps.
@Freeman
Thanks a lot for the info. I didn’t expect to learn how to get the most out of my car from YouTube. I’ll check it out.
@Freeman
When you coast downhill in an EV, you get charge back into the battery. Towing acts like that hill, giving kinetic energy for the EV to store in its battery.
@Sam
Can you explain that for someone who doesn’t know much? Or was that a joke?
San said:
@Sam
Can you explain that for someone who doesn’t know much? Or was that a joke?
You can use tow hooks on both cars, connect them with a tow bar, and tow your EV to the charger with your gas car. It’s cheaper than calling a tow truck.
@Sam
Ah, I see now. Thanks a lot for the help.
San said:
@Sam
Can you explain that for someone who doesn’t know much? Or was that a joke?
That looks like a tow hook being installed.
Nope.
Check the towing section of your manual. You might cause damage by towing yourself. If you have services like AAA or CAA, they can send someone to charge your EV so you can reach a charging station.
Moe said:
Check the towing section of your manual. You might cause damage by towing yourself. If you have services like AAA or CAA, they can send someone to charge your EV so you can reach a charging station.
Check the towing section of your manual. You might risk damage.
That’s mostly just to cover the car manufacturers. They don’t want people towing for safety reasons. But pulling an EV like this isn’t bad for it—it’s just like driving downhill.
You get free roadside assistance with your warranty.