Was checking out what special benefits my regional AAA has for EV owners and was surprised to see this. Probably not a ton of benefit over a tow to a charging station but I thought it was interesting and didn't see any previous discussion here.
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AAA Roadside Charging
- Thread starter mrwug
- Start date
Mike_TV
Active Member
A rep from AAA was on the radio here a few weeks ago talking about how they've offered roadside charging, in different forms, over the last couple of years. Sounded more like a pilot program to try different ways of emergency roadside charging. Not sure what set up or equipment they use but agree it might be easier and faster just to tow it to a station.
TomServo
Active Member
They need to add some of these to their local fleets -
Hopefully the CT will have something similar. I’d think this would come in handy if an EV was stranded 10 to 20 miles from a charger vs a tow or flatbed.
Hopefully the CT will have something similar. I’d think this would come in handy if an EV was stranded 10 to 20 miles from a charger vs a tow or flatbed.
I think it would depend on exactly how far you are from a charging station and the method/kWh they have available for roadside charging. Both times I've needed a flatbed tow in my life I've been waiting for over an hour for it. If they could provide level 2 charging with roadside service, that could certainly be quicker if you were only 5-10 miles away from your home/charge station. Still, I'd rather not need it!
In every possible way. Bringing the car to a Supercharger is going to get you on your way far quicker than sitting for hours connected to a truck-mounted level 2 charging station.
Absurd. Often all you would need is enough juice to get to a charger. Unless the Tesla driver is totally incompetent in judging range, the car will probably not be far from where the driver was intending to charge anyway. A roadside charge like that generally will not take long. Meanwhile, I have had my Telsa towed. It took a while even to get the Tesla on the flatbed (and there is some risk each time you do it), and then you have to arrange the drop off of the car, and transport for passengers if they can't fit in the cab of the truck.
What do you think is more common, flat bed tow trucks, or battery bank EVSE equipped trucks? If you have to wait for an hour for the tow truck what makes you think you will wait less time for the charging truck?
Lets say you are 20 miles via highway away from a supercharger and you totally screwed up and run out of juice... you wait for an hour weather it is a charging truck or a flat bed tow truck to show up. Say it takes 10 min to load the car, 20 min to drive to the supercharger, and 10 min to unload the car... grand total 1 hour and 40 min. Now switch over to a charging truck. Same hour wait for them to show up (if you are lucky), then (best case scenario) they have a 48 amp capable system and you charge just enough to make it to the supercharger... that will take you around half an hour, then you have to drive 20 min to get to the supercharger total time an hour and 50 min.
Now, if they want to send out a cube truck with a 50 kWh battery pack and a 25 KW (or better) DC fast charging setup we are talking about a different animal... but comparing a flat bed tow to an L2 battery truck, the tow is going to be faster.
Keith
That's a fair point, of course. That ratio would likely vary depending on where you live, and hopefully mobile chargers will become much more common as the numbers of EVs increase. But your point is well-taken; where I live I doubt we have many (if any) mobile charger equipped trucks.
I agree that this is a fair point. But I would point out that the one time I had my Tesla 'towed' (carried on a flatbed of course), I waited over 90 minutes for the tow truck and then a long time for the nervous tow truck driver, unfamiliar with Teslas, to figure out how best to put the car on the truck. Also, luckily, and unusually, it was only me (and the dog) in the car, so I was able to squeeze in the cab of the truck, although the driver said he was 'breaking the rules' in allowing this with the dog - in my more usual situation, with additional passengers, I would have had to coordinate a separate ride for passengers.
If battery boost trucks become more common, and come to offer decent charging speeds, then they will be preferable. The real comparison - all other things being equal - is two trucks arriving on the scene at the same time, one offering a tow and the other offering a quick mobile boost, enough to get you to a nearby charger. In almost all situations, the mobile boost is going to be quicker and easier.
TomServo
Active Member
What's the old adage - use the best tool for the job? I guess someone would have to figure out what's EASIER, FASTER, SAFER, and CHEAPER based on the dead EV's location to the nearest charger. One size doesn't always fit.
Vehicles such as the Cybertruck, Ford F150 Lightning will be capable of providing 240V power. Although neither vehicle is available in a tow truck or flat bed configuration these trucks could be used to provide roadside assistance. A 30 minute charge at 6kW would be enough to drive the EV 10 miles, hopefully reach a Supercharger or a DC Fast Charging station.
Falcon73
Member
What would it take to have a Y or an X etc be capable of putting power out?
It's an adapter on the Ioniq 5, right? We lost power in our office last Friday and it occurred to me that my MYLR could probably power the whole building for a time IF there was a way to reverse charge. Looks like the Ioniq 5 is limited to 3.6kW out, however. Certainly not enough for a building and maybe not even for a medium sized house.
The Tesla Model Y Owner's Manual states that currently using the Tesla vehicle's battery as a power source would invalidate the battery warranty.
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