Your Electric Car Just Broke Down. Now What?
If you’ve ever played DND D you’ll know that when it comes down to the line it doesn’t matter how buff your character is if you happen to roll poorly and whatever you’re rolling against in battle rolls well bad things will happen I mean I recently played a charity campaign where it took us
Literally two hours to clear the first room of a dungeon because everyone was rolling well enough to stay alive but poorly enough not to make any dent in the evil menaces we were attacking and we were saved I kid you not by the hotel
Fire alarm going off and I was in a fur suit and it was raining and in the very same way it doesn’t matter how well serviced your car is or how loved it is sometimes things will just go wrong because the great D20 in the sky has rolled against
You and you’ve used up all of your spell slots more than a of internal combustion engine car dominance has meant that if you’ve been driving for any length of time you are at least partly familiar with the way an internal combustion engine works or somewhere near and dear
To you is even if you’re stuck on the side of the road with no idea why the vom Vroom doesn’t you’ve probably got someone in your phone that you can call for help and most tow truck operators will also know some basic diagnostic skills to help you get back on the road
As quickly as possible with an EV it’s different not only are you less likely to know someone who knows some of the basic things to check if things stop working but you’re also less likely to encounter a tow truck operator who understands and is okay with working on
An EV so today in the interests of the age old adage that information is empowerment let’s go through some of the common things that can go wrong with your EV how to diagnose some of those problems at the side of the road and what to make sure that a tow truck
Operator does and does not do if things go Arai in order to keep this video pretty short I’m going to stick to the very Basics here so there’s a lot of things I’m not going to mention particularly when it comes to electric car accidents that said if you’re watching this video and you’re curious about some of the
Things you can do in an accident well I would suggest that the towing portions of this video most certainly can be useful but you should probably also go and watch our video that is specifically on electric car accidents and what you should do next I’ve got some experience there
There’s a link in the Down Below in my introduction I mentioned that even the most well well serviced car can have a bad day but it’s certainly less likely that your car will break down if you get it regularly checked at a dealership or in fact a friendly independent repair specialist
There are a bunch of checks that you’re meant to do on every car and your owner’s manual will helpfully list the things you should be checking on a weekly or a monthly basis that maintenance isn’t optional no matter what you might read online and following the guidance here can help minimize
Although not completely eliminate the risk of a breakdown just as Pilots would never dream of taking to the skies in a plane whose maintenance was overdue or whose fuel tanks had not been properly checked for water you shouldn’t be driving a car with tires you haven’t checked regularly or lights you haven’t
Examined there’s actually a current investigation with the NTSB into an accident involving a rebuilt plane where the pilot didn’t check their fuel for water before takeoff and the plane tragically subsequently suffered a stall and crashed killing the pilot we won’t come crashing out of the sky if we don’t check our tires
But I think you have my point as I’ve just mentioned tires let’s start there if your car suffers a flat tire it’s no longer a given that it will have a spare wheel for you to use and while there are a minority of EVS on sale today with
Spare Wheels there are an R1 TN r1s the Ford F-150 Lightning and the Audi Q8 rron all come to mind as having spare Wheels the majority of ev’s on sale today don’t instead you’ll need to choose between a can of fix a flat or calling a tow truck this kind of
Breakdown is generally pretty easy to deal with and the turnaround can be pretty quick too but I do have some quick things to point out here first if you do have a spare tire make sure you understand how to access it and how to fit it before you need to and when you
Do your weekly tire pressure checks you do carry out a weekly tire pressure check don’t you get the spare tire pressure checked as well there’s nothing worse than being at the side of the road in bad weather as trucks whizzed past you trying to figure out how to get the
Spare wheel out and fitted only to find its flat if your car does come with a spare tire you’ll also get an approved jack to lift the vehicle up and some way of loosening and then tightening the relevant wheel nuts in a recent video on Tire Choice on this channel some of you
Asked about the specifics of jacking up an EV and the answer should be that if your car is meant to be jacked up the owner’s manual will document the places where you can safely attach a Jack in an emergency it goes without saying that some EVS are a lot heavier than internal
Combustion engine models so if you are using a thirdparty jack do check its rated to lift your vehicle if if you follow your manufacturer’s recommendations regarding jacking points you shouldn’t damage your car’s battery pack but this is one of those points where you need to keep an eagle-eyed eye
On any tow truck operator or tire shop employee that wants to jack up your car know the jacking points and offer to show them to a tow truck operator or a tire shop employee if they’re unfamiliar with the vehicle or doing it wrong and be clear that you’re worried about
Battery pack damage if they try to Jack somewhere else else if you tell them that they’ll probably listen to you if you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere and you’ve only got a can of fixer flat it is up to you to make that judgment call over what happens next we’ve
Usually opted not to use it in our Fleet as it’s messy first and second it can do damage to your tire and wheel if you’re not careful therefore in the case of a flat tire I’d always recommend calling a tow truck if you’ve not got a spare
Wheel to put on which is where the first really important thing comes into play be really explicit when you call a tow company about your vehicle in some countries breakdown services use a fleet of pickup trucks or vans that have integrated or folding towing dollies that can be used to tow stricken
Vehicles these will lift up the stricken axle and tow the car with the other axle on the ground but when it comes to EVS that can cause problems with all-wheel drive models because unlike internal combustion engine Vehicles which usually have the ability to disengage the wheels from the gearbox and engine by placing
It into neutral EVS don’t have any way to disconnect their motors from the wheels this means that you should never ever tow an EV along the road with any axle usually powered by the motor touching the ground which for all-wheel drive versions usually means you’ll need
A flatbed truck for the vehicle to sit on rather than make use of a Towing Dolly obviously this goes for any type of breakdown not just a flat tire but being able to communicate that to the tow truck operator is really important that said if you break down in your EV
Or suffer a flat and require a toe be prepared for the longer than usual wait time because of this because sometimes you’ll get an operator who either doesn’t understand what you’re trying to say it will just ignore what you say and send someone in a pickup truck because that’s company
Policy and if that happens you may be left Stranded by the first pickup truck operator until a flatbed arrives I once had a Morris Miner fail on me at the side of the road because I’d failed to tighten the coil bolts and despite me telling the operator what the problem
Was they still sent someone who was compl completely unprepared for the actual breakdown TI woes out of the way let’s deal with the next likely breakdown issue being stuck at a charging station there are of course two types of being stuck at a charging station the first is arriving with
Basically no charge and not having enough to make it elsewhere is mercifully far less common these days than it used to be a decade ago because most modern charging sites now have multiple charging stations next to each other and unless you happen to own a chadeo equipped EV in which case there’s
Often only one functional charging station per location the second version being physically stuck to the charging station is unfortunately more common to the first of these two charging breakdowns the I don’t have enough to continue scenario if you arrive at a charging station with a limited amount
Of charge and you can’t get a charging session to initiate I would advise that you not carry on if you know for sure that you’re not going to make an alternative charging station the more experienced you are as a driver the more likely it is you’ll be able to figure a
Way to get out of that particular situation and find somewhere else to charge but if in doubt stay put frankly running out of charge at the side of the road is dangerous doesn’t look good for EVS and while you might not like the idea of staying at a broken charging
Station waiting for a tow truck it is hugely preferable to being in the middle of nowhere especially if your cell phone might not work the second type of charging breakdown is a little easier to deal with it’s the one where your car and the charging station become one in marriage
And refuse to divorce and is usually only a problem with fast charging stations although in Europe and countries where level two charging station uses the type 2 Charging connector it can also happen there from time to time because the charging connector locks to the vehicle in order
To protect you the vehicle and the charging station your car and the charging station May lock together at the start of a charging station and when charging is finished they should automatically unlock sometimes though that doesn’t happen either due to a mechanical issue with a car or charging station or
Because there’s a foreign body lurking somewhere in the system sometimes the charging station itself will also fail to properly end its charging session and all of those things can leave your car married to the cable the first thing to point out here is that you should always always always check that the charging
Station has actually finished its session your car probably has a menu somewhere on its Dash that lets you check the status of charging and the charging station itself should also say if it thinks there’s a charging session in progress in this instance especially for fast charging sessions you shouldn’t
Try to disconnect the cable from the car if either the station or the car thinks that charging is still happening if that is the case then you’re going to need to call the charging station company and explain what’s going on before you try and disconnect anything if the charging
Session is most certainly not still in progress but the cable is still stuck most modern EVS now have some form of manual release cable somewhere exactly for this purpose not all but most your owner’s manual the one you’ve most certainly read right will tell you where
This is in some EVS it’s hidden under the hood sometimes behind a trim panel and sometimes it’s more easily accessible like a pull cable somewhere in the trunk or hidden next to the rear light again read up on this location before you need it because you’ll save
Yourself a lot of time Hassle and stress if you do regardless of if you have a cable release or not do not under any circumstances try to Jimmy the cable off your vehicle you risk breaking the car or the cable and that would be costly
And we don’t want that but bear in mind as well that your average tow truck operator won’t be able to help you in this situation either it’s one where you’re going to need to call your automaker or the local dealership for help as well as the charging station
Operator next up on our list of breakdowns is the ominous failure to turn on this is often the result of a flat 12vt accessory battery and it’s often easier than you might think to fix while not all failure to turn on issues are the result of a flat 12volt
Accessory battery you’ll usually be able to tell if it’s the root cause or not long before you try to turn your car on for example if your car has a flat 12volt battery your keyless entry system may not work and for cars with no physical door handles you might even
Struggle to get into your vehicle without going into huge detail here most but not all electric vehicles have a small 12volt accessory battery that operates in a similar way to the 12v starter battery in an internal combustion engine vehicle but rather than turn over the starter motor the
12volt battery in an EV is used to activate the low voltage circuits that then engage the electromechanical contact is used to connect the high voltage traction battery to the car’s high voltage circuitry if the 12vt battery is dead or low it can’t engage those contactors and the car won’t power
On you may see a warning symbol or two on the dash if the car isn’t completely dead and because of the high voltage battery not engaging you won’t be able to charge that 12volt battery back up again we’ve actually made several videos on this channel in the past including
One from a very long time ago explaining why 12volt EV batteries tend to die more frequently than I start a batteries but there are at least a few things you can have in Your Arsenal to help prevent this breakdown from spoiling in your day first buy a 12vt jump starter they’re
Normally about $100 and read up in your car’s manual as to where the jump start points are usually if you can power the car on with the jump starter the main contactors will then engage and then you’ll start charging the 12volt battery from the DC to DC converter it can at a
Push get you to where you need to go or maybe even get you to somewhere where you can buy a replacement 12volt battery second treat yourself to a voltmeter and learn how to use it voltmeters are useful tools to have around the place anyway and if you have one that you can
Use to check your car’s 12volt battery you should at least be able to see how low the battery really is if you’re feeling really fancy you might even want to get a battery tender to top off your battery overnight once in a while although if your battery does need
Topping off at night the chances are it will soon die completely that said it’s also conceivable that your battery is drained because you left an accessory circuit on or you left the lights on while some EVS are pretty good at detecting that you’ve left lights or other things on and turn
Them off to keep the battery from going flat not all EVs do this so yeah having a voltmeter a jump starter and maybe a battery tender is a good thing I should also note here that you may find it’s the key that’s dead not the 12vt battery
If you try to turn your car on and it tells you there’s no key detected your key for battery might be dead and again the manual probably lists a place where you can place the key to start your vehicle even if you have a dead key fob
Inside and before I leave this section completely if you have an EV with non-manual doors such as some Teslas or like a Ford Mustang Mark E for example make sure that you know how to open up your vehicle when the 12v battery is dead usually you’re required to add a
12volt jump starter to some hidden cables hidden behind a trim panel on the exterior of the vehicle and every Mak a model of vehicle is subtly different so learning where they are and how to use them can save you time and possibly money the last type of breakdown we’re
Going to cover today is the one where your car tells you that there’s a battery fault or a drivetrain malfunction this can sometimes follow a low battery warning even if your car has a reasonably full battery pack or some other random warning and it can also
Occur after you hit something on on the road while it’s fair to note that a low 12vt battery can sometimes cause ghosts in the machine and present random errors including ones that appear to be drivetrain related it is generally safer to assume that the master warning type
Of error is genuine and that you really should stop driving when safe and possible if you are 100% sure that the issue isn’t nefarious it’s worth finding a place to stop to reboot your car by power cycling it but generally if you have a traction power reduced or
Something similar followed by a stop now kind of warning you should do what the car says find somewhere safe turn the vehicle off and get out if in doubt stay out of your vehicle and stand somewhere safe where you won’t be hit by other vehicles call for assistance and explain
Your vehicle has that particular warning when you’re doing all of this check around the vehicle safely for signs of any damage to the battery pack and keep an eye out for any signs of smoke while it’s unlikely a fire will happen it’s always well worth keeping an eye out for
Unusual events that could cause one especially if you might have just hit something on the road and to add to that when the tow truck arrives the same precautions exist for dealing with Towing to a dealer as if you have a flat tire make sure they lift all of the
Driven wheels off the road and check the tow truck operator knows how to enter the vehicle’s official Towing mode which some cars including Teslas have specifically added to their vehicles to allow the vehicle to be safely loaded onto and off a tow truck without damaging the tires wheels or drivetrain
In finishing off the video it is always worth investing in and carrying an OBD2 to smartphone dongle usually Bluetooth Bluetooth LE or Wi-Fi this would enable you to check the car’s onboard diagnostic system for any errors logged in the car’s computer the gold standard for OBD2 scanner apps
Is the Android talk Pro program but similar programs exist for Apple iOS devices and having one that scans for errors and identifies the errors with your particular EV is a massive help when it comes to figuring out what the real problem is and it could also save
You a costly repair Bill further down the line as well as make sure the dealership isn’t lying to you so there you have it what you can do in an emergency when your car breaks down oh and please do consider buying some emergency flares and a reflective jacket
They’re not legally required in all countries although some countries do require them but even if they’re not required they can keep you safe at the side of the road while you wait for a toe it sure is heck beats rolling a D20 athletic check to see if you dodge that
Car that clearly hasn’t seen you or your stranded EV at the side of the road thanks for joining me today and if you’ve got thoughts make sure you leave them below in our Discord chat room or you can reach out to us on masterdon thanks to the amazing list of people
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No matter how well-loved your car is, or how careful you are as an owner, you’re bound to suffer a breakdown of some sort at one time or another.
In the internal combustion engine vehicle world, you probably have someone in your family who has the knowledge to help you out – but what about EVs?
Today, we’re looking at how to best tackle those problems head on when you’re driving an EV.
—
00:00 – Introduction
02:16 – Sticking to the basics..
02:55 – Get your car serviced regularly!
04:13 – Tires!
04:57 – Know how to fit a spare!
07:06 – Towing
09:02 – Charging Station Failures and breakdowns
13:23 – Dead 12 Volts
17:11 – Emergency Battery warnings
20:23 – Thanks, and goodbye!
—–
Presenter, Script, Audio: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield.
Camera, Editor, Colorist: M. Horton
Art and Animation: Erin Carlie
Producer: Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield
© Transport Evolved LLC, 2024
—-
Links :
What to do in an EV accident: https://youtu.be/x24YlLcj-lA
Keep your 12-V battery healthy: https://youtu.be/pu30bchGu50
—–
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