EVs and towbars

[-Cappo-]

Are any of the small/mid/more mainstream EVs accredited for having a towbar fitted? I'm slowly coming round to the idea of chopping my 5.0SC L322 in for an electric vehicle of some sort, but I'm limiting budget to about £20k at present. I occasionally want/need to tow a motorbike around, so it's not a weight or power thing (bike plus trailer all up would never exceed 300kg) but everything I look at says "no towbar"

I liked the idea of the F-Pace (another thread on here which I can't find now) and could have been persuaded to stump up the extra for one, but the (large) dogs won't fit in the back.

In general, I quite like a quirky car, so next on the list, albeit completely different, was the i3. With the back seats down (there are only two humans in the family) there was plenty of space, but no towbar available, and also no roofrack in case we needed to load it up if we took it on holiday.

Didn't particularly want a Leaf but it would do the job, but, guess what....

Citroen C4? Nope. DS3? Forget it. Kona? Fine, as long as it's not the electric one.

And so on. Anyone know whether the no-towbar thing is across the board for EVs?

[plfrench]

A guy at work has a tow bar on his Model 3 don't know if that helps! It's a company car so he wouldn't have been able to get it done if it wasn't allowed by the manufacturer.

[robbieduncan]

All Model Ys can have towbars. Tesla will even fit the factory option at a later date. For about £1000

[-Cappo-]

I borrowed a Model 3 for a week and liked it. lot more than I thought I would. No good for the dogs tho. The Model Y is still a bit out of budget but will def bear that in mind.

[TheRainMaker]

The Polestar has an option of a towbar. I don't think many had them fitted, though.

[thebraketester]

Ioniq 5 can be fitted with a tow bar.

[jonathan_roberts]

-Cappo- said:

I borrowed a Model 3 for a week and liked it. lot more than I thought I would. No good for the dogs tho. The Model Y is still a bit out of budget but will def bear that in mind.

A model y LR is £2000 more than a model 3 LR, or do you mean second hand?

To answer the OP we have MYLR with towball. It’s useful and can tow big loads.

[Ardennes92]

thebraketester said:

Ioniq 5 can be fitted with a tow bar.

Presumably also EV6 & GV60 as same vehicle; think most PHEV’s also can have Towbar fitted.

[-Cappo-]

jonathan_roberts said:

-Cappo- said:

I borrowed a Model 3 for a week and liked it. lot more than I thought I would. No good for the dogs tho. The Model Y is still a bit out of budget but will def bear that in mind.

A model y LR is £2000 more than a model 3 LR, or do you mean second hand?

To answer the OP we have MYLR with towball. It’s useful and can tow big loads.

Yes, used.

[sjg]

I think all the current MG new EVs are rated for at least 500kg towing. Similar for other new Chinese stuff like the BYDs.

There’s quite a few out there that will but it tends to be newer stuff. I think for the most part manufacturers just didn’t bother with the tow rating for earlier cars as they didn’t expect anyone to want it.

[JonnyVTEC]

If the dogs don’t fit in an F pace aren’t you stuffed with most of those cars?

[caziques]

I have an MG ZS EV. As the aftermarket towbar was half the price of the OE I had that fitted.

The reversing camera has to be moved.

[-Cappo-]

JonnyVTEC said:

If the dogs don’t fit in an F pace aren’t you stuffed with most of those cars?

The problem with the F-Pace was that the boot floor is quite high and leaves little headroom for a big dog.

[blank]

Bit leggy but this would fit the bill if you can live with the poor efficiency / range.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/2023090415...

Edited by blank on Friday 22 September 23:12

[raspy]

My iX came with a towbar as standard, although for some trim versions it was a cost option. It can tow 2,500kg.

Far out of your £20k budget for now, but given how they will depreciate massively, you may well find one close to your budget in 18-24 months!

[LowTread]

I'm in exactly the same position as you. My Yeti is feeling a little tired and being diesel isn't really liking the short journeys i'm now doing.

EV is on the list, but i need a towbar for a bike rack.

My research has yielded the following options for hybrid & plug-in and EVs. Not looked at BMWs or MGs, so can't help there. Mainly i've looked at the Korean offerings and Teslas.

In some cases you can only tell by looking at the VIN or V5 of the exact car you're looking at buying, as some car years were homologated and some weren't.

Hybrids (HEV)
- Toyota started supporting towbars from the Cololla and CH-R era onwards. Older Auris models don't seem to support towing. And even the CH-R has a quite small towing capacity that's only really suited to bikes. Rav4 is your best bet, but they're not particularly economical so i ruled them out.
- Lexus SUVs have supported towing for a while, but again like the Rav4 aren't particularly economical in 2.5 litre guise.
- KIA Niro (new and old) support towing across the range of hybrid models (see below for plug-in and EV models).
- KIA Niro (new model) i was told by a salesman definitely supports towing.
- Hyundai Kona (old model) hybrid i'm not sure about, but same platform as the Niro, so should? Need to check this.
- Hyundai Kona (new model) i was told by a salesman definitely supports towing.
- Hyundai Ioniq hybrid supports 750kg braked/unbraked but ONLY from 2018 (ish) onwards. Check the VIN!!

Plug-ins (PHEV)
- Golf and Passat GTE support towing. I was dead set on one of these for ages, but couldn't commit.
- Hyundai Ioniq i haven't seen any that support towing, even from 2018, so differs from the HEV?
- KIA Niro (new one) supports towing

EVs
- Tesla Model 3 supports towing, but ONLY if it had a factory fitted towbar. You cannot legally (in the UK at least) retrofit a towbar as it doesn't have a vehicle train weight stamped on the VIN. The issue is noseweight. Tesla only support 55kg and only on a short bike carrier. The owners manual goes in to detail about centre of gravity. Once you add a bike carrier and a few bikes you're over that. The only roof rack options is Tesla's own system, but there are instances of cracked roof glass. I'd love a Model 3, but insurance costs and the bike rack sutuation has ruled it out for me.
- KIA Niro EV (new one) supports towing. £30k+ at the moment though.
- Hyundai Kona EV (old one) supports towing from the 2021 facelift (body coloured wheel arches and nose without the dimples) has 300kg capacity and with a 100kg nose weight, so good for a bike rack.

I've been round and round in circles on this, but think if i'm going for EV then the Kona 2021+ is top of my list, particularly in Ultimate spec. Either that or i'm going for an Ioniq 2018+ in Premium SE spec (which is similar).

Hope that helps someone!

Edited by LowTread on Tuesday 26th September 10:59

[Cyberprog]

I have a Kia Niro EV 4 - and speced it with the tow option (though this got missed during the lease process - was installed by the dealer later).

it can pull a 750kg which is perfect for tip runs etc.

[-Cappo-]

LowTread said:

Research

That’s a great reference list, thanks for sharing!

[tr7v8]

To add to that list I have a Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV which is a decent size. That has a dealer fitted towbar. Mine is an 18 plate but younger ones are available.

[MrTrilby]

Another couple to add to the excellent research list:
Volvo XC60 PHEV - can tow up to 2100kg
Volvo XC90 PHEV - can tow up to 2350kg