An electric car’s instant torque makes for a great tow vehicle – but there are downsides. Get clued up with our list
If there’s one activity an electric car should be perfectly suited to, it’s towing. With their powerful motors that deliver instant and finely controlled torque, these battery-powered machines could have been purpose built for hauling heavy loads.
However, what seems as clear as day on paper can often be much murkier in practice. You see, while these torque-rich models could theoretically pull the heftiest trailers and most cumbersome caravans, many manufacturers don’t homologate them to do so.
One of the major reasons is the electric range. The effort and energy needed to tow often reduces the usable range to under 100 miles in many cases. Then there is the weighty issue of mass. The combination of an EV’s bulky batteries and any potential load created a gross train weight (the car’s kerb weight and trailer load added together) that became almost unmanageable.
But times have changed and technology has improved, with the result that ever increasing numbers of EVs have been designed to accommodate a towbar and can hitch up to the sort of loads normally the preserve of ICE models. There’s still a little way to go before these electrified offerings can match the most accomplished petrol- or diesel-engined haulers (the best can pull up to 3500kg), but there are still plenty of options for those who want to tow and make the switch to an EV.
