NCC Guide to towing with an EV - Manual / Resource - Page 6
TOWING WITH AN EV
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF HAVING AN EV AS A TOW CAR?
EVs are often heavier than their ICE
equivalent due to the battery size and
weight.
Even if you’re considering an EV,
you still need your tow car to be
a good match for your caravan so
head to the NCC’s matching service
– www.towcheck.co.uk – to ensure
both vehicles are a safe and legal
combination. The check takes less than
a minute and costs £1.99. For that small
fee you’ll get a full technical safety
report and clear traf昀椀c light-style
results.
EVs have good power while the
torque means acceleration when you
need it – such as merging into traf昀椀c on
a motorway – is immediate and strong.
And don’t forget the fundamental
fact that an all-electric vehicle has no
exhaust and therefore produces no
direct emissions.
HOW MUCH POWER WILL THE EV CONSUME WHEN TOWING?
EV range when hitched up to a caravan
has been a big focus of road testers for
some years now.
In very general terms, experts at
Practical Caravan magazine, What Car?
and the Camping and Caravanning
Club all estimate that towing a caravan
reduces the EV’s solo range by about
50 per cent. For example, The Tesla
Model Y EV achieved a range of 262.5
miles in solo driving but this dropped
down to 112.5 miles while towing a
caravan that weighed 1,600kg.
6 NCC Electric Vehicle Towing Guide
So clearly a key activity is to plan your
route in advance and give consideration
to where you can recharge your vehicle
when hitched up to a caravan if going
longer distances than the range allows.
The aerodynamics of the caravan
play a big part in range reduction,
much more-so than the mass does, so
a trailer-tent on the back of the tow
car is clearly going to impact range a
lot less than a caravan. It may be worth
considering methods to reduce the
drag the caravan would create while
