We adore questions from readers, and on occasion they inspire entries like this one:
In the Prius owner’s manual, there are numerous, numerous, numerous legally required cautions about what you should and shouldn’t do near your car, and they handed us excerpts from that text. But there was useful information tucked away in the warnings and boxed alerts.
The short answer is no, whether it is an RV or a car, you should never flat-tow a Prius hybrid. (Amusingly, Toyota refers to it as “dinghy-towing,” a term we weren’t familiar with.)
It turns out that the business recommends that you always keep the front wheels off the ground when towing a Toyota Prius in order to protect the transmission. They are the ones that utilize the eCVT technology, an electronic continuously variable gearbox, to combine the torque of the engine and the two motor-generators.
Therefore, if a Prius is being towed from the front, the front wheels must be raised using a wheel lift (Toyota advises against using tow trucks with dolly-style wheels).
The front wheels of a Prius must always be in a rolling cradle or dolly when being towed from the rear. Under no circumstances may the front wheels of a Prius be on the ground.
If flat-towing a Prius on all four wheels is absolutely essential in an emergency, it should only be done over short distances and at speeds of 18 mph or less.
Which suggests that you might need to find another vehicle to pull that RV behind, as we expect.
In This Article...
Can you tow a Prius AWD?
The answer is that a Prius can tow. The fourth generation of the Toyota Prius is the first time in 19 years that the most popular hybrid in the world may be equipped with a trailer hitch. It is offered as an add-on at car dealerships and has a weight capacity of 750 kilograms (1598 lbs).
Without factoring in the cost of installation, the Japanese company’s dealerships sell this trailer hitch as an original item for $475. This requires an additional $238 for the 7-pin electrical connection, which increases to $277 if a 13-pin connection is required.
With the aid of this new rear hitch, the Toyota Prius can now tow a caravan that weighs no more than 750 kilograms and be equipped with useful supports for transporting bicycles, such as the $359 accessory that the Japanese company also sells for the new Toyota Prius and allows for the transport of two bicycles. Another folding is available for $556.
To say that this hitch can be taken apart and covered when not in use to hide its support, and most of all, that it has no impact on the expert aerodynamics of this effective vehicle that never ceases to wow us.
The Toyota Prius is undoubtedly one of the most recent models that comes to mind when thinking about towing a car. The hybrid vehicle from Toyota is one of the forerunners in the hybrid market and contains features like comfort, room, or almost nothing. However, one of its weaknesses is that other vehicles’ trailers, which also weigh more than it, are not among its advantages. or so we believed.
When towing, how do you put a Prius in neutral?
You only need to move the shift lever to the “Position N. However, Emmett discovered that with the Prius, you must first push the shift lever to “N, keep it there, and then wait a fraction of a second for the transmission to change into neutral.
Can I use a tow dolly to haul a Prius?
A. You can do this for any purpose. The driving wheels of the Toyota Prius must be elevated because it has front-wheel drive. Even a short amount of flat towing a Prius will harm the transmission.
Can you tow a hybrid car that has broken down?
Your hybrid or electric vehicle should be put on a flatbed trailer rather than being towed away if it breaks down. This is done to prevent damage to the on-board electronics, including the traction motor that produces electricity while coasting. The majority of manufacturers advise owners to get in touch with their breakdown service and expressly request a flatbed truck. The front wheels of an electric vehicle can occasionally be raised to tow the vehicle, however this is often only possible over a short distance. To learn what your manufacturer suggests, consult your manual.
Can a hybrid be flat-towed?
Finally, we have reached the initial query of this post: “Can flat towing be used for electric cars? It may be clearer to grasp why, in general, modern electric automobiles ARE NOT to be hauled four wheels down behind a motorhome now that we’ve explained why not all cars can be flat towed (and most rear-wheel drive EVs can’t even be towed on a dolly).
The main justification for this is that being towed would significantly increase the wear and tear on their electric motors. The electric motor powering the wheel or wheels of an EV is frequently directly coupled to them. As a result, unlike with a conventional drivetrain, the motor is still connected to the wheels when the vehicle is in neutral. Instead, the electricity to it simply stops.
This is due to the fact that electric vehicles (EVs) lack the same kind of gearbox that gasoline engines do, which is normally necessary for flat towing. We can’t just put a car in neutral and begin towing. What ensures that the vehicle’s gearbox and engine won’t be harmed or worse is a real transmission disconnect, or a transmission that isn’t damaged by being spun without the engine running.
Consequently, the general response to the query, “Can an RV pull flat-bed electric vehicles? is no.
However, there are rumblings about modifications that could eventually result in a whole different answer that we’re reading and hearing about.
With a Toyota hybrid, is towing possible?
The 2.5-liter Toyota Hybrid System II engine produces 176 lb. ft. of torque and 219 total horsepower. This engine can pull your little fishing boat with ease thanks to its 1,750 lb maximum Toyota towing capacity.
Is it possible to put a Prius in neutral while the battery is dead?
Open the hood, remove the fuse box’s top, reveal the tiny red cover, and attach jumper wires or a jump box to the hot and ground terminals. Get in and put the car in neutral.
Can a hybrid vehicle be towed behind a motorhome?
Electric vehicles shouldn’t be pulled by another car. This might seriously harm the car because of the way they are made.
It’s common practice to tow a smaller car behind an RV when renting one so the drivers may perform quick errands without the burden of such a big vehicle. In contrast to some types of hybrid electric vehicles and internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, pure electric vehicles do not have this luxury.
Unlike ICE vehicles, which have an independent engine and wheels, EVs have an electric motor that is directly coupled to the wheels. Even if you put the car in neutral, you cannot separate the two because electric vehicles need the motor for all of their operations.
The motor spins together with the wheels when they are moving, and on lengthy trips, the static electricity and heat energy can seriously harm the motor.
The RV or motorhome would be the best and safest option. Although it is more difficult to park and navigate in confined places, it is the surest approach to ensure the security of your car.
You must have insurance whether operating a vehicle or an electric vehicle. Jerry can assist you in locating the finest insurance plan at the lowest cost.
A 2010 Toyota Prius can you tow, right?
When my 2000 Winnebago Journey 34B is towing my 2010 Prius, I need the brake and running lights to work. What have you got?
Expert Reaction:
Because your 2010 Toyota Prius cannot be towed with all four wheels on the ground, according to the owner’s handbook and every other source I’ve looked at, we actually don’t have any wiring to tow it. The Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) on it will be harmed if flat towing is performed. It is advised to tow the Prius on a dolly instead.
The Roadmaster model number RM-2050-1 has brakes. I suggest getting our # e99011 kit since it has everything you require. You could also want some extra wiring for 10-1-1.
Use a magnetic light kit, such as part # TL21RK, if you’re already towing the Prius on a dolly and merely want to add more illumination.
Can an electric automobile be towed or pushed?
Have you ever had to make that awkward call to your breakdown service because you ran out of gasoline or diesel? You shouldn’t be too embarrassed because breakdown services help thousands of drivers who lose money playing Fuel Light Bingo every year. Running an electric car to its zero-mileage limit can result in a far bigger issue than the one above, which can be quickly fixed with a dash of gasoline from a jerrycan.
To begin with, carrying batteries in rescue vans to assist stranded EV drivers doesn’t make much sense. A battery of this size would be heavy, adding several hundred kilograms to the van’s diesel engine’s burden, whether the battery was full and functional or empty and dead weight. It is obvious that the environment will not benefit from this action.
A depleted EV could be towed to the closest charger. Due to the way the motors are coupled to the wheels and the lack of a genuine neutral gear, most manufacturers advise against towing electric automobiles, even when in neutral. Instead of being hauled by a breakdown service’s patrol van, the automobile will need to be placed onto a flat-bed truck to prevent damage.
Thankfully, there are some solutions. The RAC has been installing the EV Boost system, which generates power using a generator and a diesel engine, in its vans since 2019. This is then delivered to a damaged EV utilizing a Type 1 or Type 2 connection, both of which are said to work with 99 percent of electric vehicles.
These chargers, however, started out with a meager 3.5kW power supply, topping off EV batteries by about 14 miles per hour. A new 5kW model and a 7.5kW mobile charger are both being developed, according to a May 2021 announcement from the RAC. When one of these chargers does show up, drivers with dead batteries should see an increase in range of about 25 miles per hour. By the end of 2022, RAC expects to have installed EV Boost chargers in about a fifth of its 1,600 vehicles.
Additionally, the breakdown service has a Heavy Duty 4×4 Patrol van. All-wheel-drive and electric vehicles can be recovered using these modified Isuzu pickup trucks, which have a fold-out, four-wheel trailer in their load bed instead of the typical tow vehicle.
Why can’t you pull an electric vehicle?
There are a variety of factors that prevent most electric vehicles from being able to tow trailers, caravans, and other cargo at this time.
The first is that many people have simply not been given permission to tow. This results from a procedure known as “type approval.” The website of the UK government states:
The affirmation that production samples of a type of vehicle, vehicle system, component, or independent technical unit will achieve required performance criteria is known as “vehicle type approval.”
When a car manufacturer like Peugeot creates and releases a new vehicle, we are required to apply for permission from numerous automotive bodies. When this is authorized, the vehicle can be safely towed.
Electric vehicles have not, however, generally been authorized. This is because a number of factors that cause towing to have a negative effect on the vehicle’s performance:
The additional weight the electric car would be pulling would significantly increase the total amount of weight the electric motors would have to move. Towing would make electric vehicles even heavier than automobiles that are propelled by combustion engines, which is already a problem. The car’s brakes could become overworked if they had to stop more weight than they were intended to.
The range of the electric car would be drastically decreased as a result of the added weight. The increasing strain on the electric motors is the reason of this. This would require the driver to stop and recharge their electric vehicle more frequently.
The use of regenerative braking by electric vehicles is another problem. This aids in recapturing lost energy from pointless braking into the car’s battery, extending its range. Since the majority of electric cars’ regenerative braking is now set to the exact weight of the car, towing a big object could risk causing the electronics of the car to malfunction.
It is advised to avoid attempting to tow if your electric vehicle is not type-approved for it. There is no way to predict how the car would respond if you attempted to haul a hefty load because it lacks type-approval.