Experiences when you have little to no juice in your EV

[Anonymous]

I have a 17yo car that runs great, and required nothing but routine maintenance. I wanted a Prius when I bought that car, but my car at the time had died and the wait for a Prius was over 6mos. I don’t know how much longer my current car will last. (Hopefully, another few years, bc I love it!) I recently needed a tow bc the battery died, and the tow truck driver said I was lucky not to have an EV. He said you can’t put them in neutral without juice, and require a truck with a crane to lift and tow them. Currently, there aren’t as many trucks like that out there. He also said people routinely underestimate how much charge they have left or how much they need to go from point a to b. When the battery dies the car stops and you can’t coast to the shoulder.

Anyone personally have these problems with their EV? Why haven’t engineers designed them to have a neutral state so they can be rolled?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a 17yo car that runs great, and required nothing but routine maintenance. I wanted a Prius when I bought that car, but my car at the time had died and the wait for a Prius was over 6mos. I don’t know how much longer my current car will last. (Hopefully, another few years, bc I love it!) I recently needed a tow bc the battery died, and the tow truck driver said I was lucky not to have an EV. He said you can’t put them in neutral without juice, and require a truck with a crane to lift and tow them. Currently, there aren’t as many trucks like that out there. He also said people routinely underestimate how much charge they have left or how much they need to go from point a to b. When the battery dies the car stops and you can’t coast to the shoulder.

Anyone personally have these problems with their EV? Why haven’t engineers designed them to have a neutral state so they can be rolled?

Really? No one has experience with this? Do we just have a plethora of charging stations that make this NBD? Which is strange given what the tow truck driver was telling me.

[Anonymous]

Gas powered vehicles pays the tow drivers bills. Lucky for HIM
That you didn’t have an EV, because then he wouldn’t have gotten your business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 17yo car that runs great, and required nothing but routine maintenance. I wanted a Prius when I bought that car, but my car at the time had died and the wait for a Prius was over 6mos. I don’t know how much longer my current car will last. (Hopefully, another few years, bc I love it!) I recently needed a tow bc the battery died, and the tow truck driver said I was lucky not to have an EV. He said you can’t put them in neutral without juice, and require a truck with a crane to lift and tow them. Currently, there aren’t as many trucks like that out there. He also said people routinely underestimate how much charge they have left or how much they need to go from point a to b. When the battery dies the car stops and you can’t coast to the shoulder.

Anyone personally have these problems with their EV? Why haven’t engineers designed them to have a neutral state so they can be rolled?

Really? No one has experience with this? Do we just have a plethora of charging stations that make this NBD? Which is strange given what the tow truck driver was telling me.

Never had this happen. I don’t know what would happe happen if f my car ran out of charge, because I’ve never let it happen. I’m also not the type to run out of gas by pressing my luck in an empty tank.
The car tells me how far it can go. I plan ahead and charge as needed.

It may be the tow driver was making stuff up, or exaggerating a more minor problem.

[Anonymous]

Can't they just tow it on the non-drive wheels? Or are all wheels driven in an EV?

[Anonymous]

You can't put them in neutral with a charge either since they sdo not have a gear box or transmission. Lots of cars need to be towed on a flat bed and while there are fewer flat bed tow trucks out there, it is not a big deal. Get an EV if you want one, but don't try and scare people off them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can't put them in neutral with a charge either since they sdo not have a gear box or transmission. Lots of cars need to be towed on a flat bed and while there are fewer flat bed tow trucks out there, it is not a big deal. Get an EV if you want one, but don't try and scare people off them.

I don't think OP is trying to scare people off ev's. A quick google pulls up several articles about the towing issue. The OP is accurate.

[Anonymous]

We’ve had EVs for years and never ran out of charge. I never ran out of gas in my old cars either. Only times I needed a tow was once when my old civic caught fire in the engine and once when my old Mitsubishi transmission just stopped working entirely.
I sort of assume that AAA can give an EV a charge now, right? The Tesla also tells you where there are charging stations and recommends the closest, so it makes it really easy. Not sure if other EVs do that. I don’t think our Prius did but that was a few years ago.

[Anonymous]

It makes sense a *tow truck driver* has seen EVs that have run out of charge, but in all my time driving an EV, I personally have never run out of charge nor has anyone I know.

I have never needed a tow because I ran out of gas, either.

[Anonymous]

Get a generator

[Anonymous]

I have friends who almost ran out of charge in a rural area because the high-speed charger they planned to use was broken (and the interactive screen in the car that helps you plan where to stop to charge had said the charger was working.) So it is possible for this to happen through no fault of your own.

[Anonymous]

I've never come close to running out of juice with my EV, but I pretty much only commute with it. It's generally better not to let your EV run low from a battery preservation perspective.