Have you ever run out of charge in your EV ?

MX5huggy

boxosox said:

What's the techinical/mechanical reason an EV can't be towed?

It varies from EV to EV, but basically there’s no gear box so no true neutral the motors are directly connected to the wheels so if wheels turn the motors turn this generates power which the car is designed to cope with. 

facade

Betterthanlife said:

How many have died by being knocked down by members of the public, say in the last 10 years?

That's an interesting question.

You'd think it would be trivial to google, but it isn't!

There are "Shock! Horror! - Probe! " clickbait articles a plenty, but not a single one references the source for their sensationalist figures (I spent over 30 years teaching children that sources should be referenced properly, there simply can't be a journalist working today who doesn't know this..)

Best I can do is find the raw data, this is a data download tool (that doesn't work how you think- but calc has filters....)

https://roadtraffic.dft.gov.uk/custom-downloads/road-accidents

so over the 10 years 2013-2022 there were 172 pedestrian deaths on the motorway.

Now whether they count AA men, road workers and people who have got out of their cars as pedestrians, I don't know.

Maybe the people from broken down cars count as driver & passengers in which case there were 209 passenger deaths and 521 driver deaths.

902 deaths on the Motorways in 10 years.....

Martyn1981

boxosox said:

What's the techinical/mechanical reason an EV can't be towed?

Just as an example for Tesla's, they have a tow mode (reached through the service option on the touchscreen), to enable 'neutral', then the vehicle can be towed onto a flat bed truck. Not to be towed with any wheels on the ground.

In that service option, there is also 'carwash' mode, which does the same for those moving conveyor belt car washes. This activates the neutral, but stops the car applying the brake/park.

You can also put the car into neutral to push it, but I wouldn't want to push a BEV (even a Tesla) far.

Recent article about a guy who drove across the US and back, but the Northern of the contiguous 48 states. So 6,000 miles in 10days, in the winter. Managed to run out once, having skipped a charging station, then struggling to find the chargers in a very large shopping mall area. Ran out about 50yds from a charger, but didn't want to risk pushing the car due to snow. However, asked the shop he was stopped outside of, if he could plug in his long extension lead for a quick charge. [Didn't ask his mum to get out, in the snowstorm, and push the car ..... wise decision.]

born_again

Martyn1981 said:

Recent article about a guy who drove across the US and back, but the Northern of the contiguous 48 states. So 6,000 miles in 10days, in the winter. Managed to run out once, having skipped a charging station, then struggling to find the chargers in a very large shopping mall area. Ran out about 50yds from a charger, but didn't want to risk pushing the car due to snow. However, asked the shop he was stopped outside of, if he could plug in his long extension lead for a quick charge. [Didn't ask his mum to get out, in the snowstorm, and push the car ..... wise decision.]

Round Australia. Only missed the top right due to very heavy flooding in the area. 16,000Km 29-2 to 08-04 Tesla 3 RWD