Flatbed only — 24 hours in Kalamazoo County

EV Towing in Portage, MI

An electric car cannot be towed the way a gas car can. All four wheels come off the ground, every time, and there are two or three things about your vehicle we need to know before the truck leaves.

☎ Call (269) 350-8697

MethodFlatbed, no exceptions

Most common callDead 12-volt battery

Peak seasonMichigan winter

Also handlesPlug-in hybrids

Why the rules are different

Every Wheel Off the Ground, Every Time

On a conventional car, a wheel-lift works because the wheels left on the road are just rolling — nothing is connected to them that objects. On an electric vehicle that is not true. The drive motors are permanently coupled to the wheels, so any wheel turning on the road is turning a motor, and a turning motor generates current whether or not the car is turned on. Manufacturers put this in the owner’s manual in plain language: transport on a flatbed. Not a suggestion, and not one we are willing to bend for a shorter job or a cheaper price.

The second difference is that getting an EV onto the deck is often the harder half. A gas car in neutral rolls when you pull it. Many electric vehicles have no mechanical neutral at all — the parking pawl and the electronic brake are released by the car’s own computer, and that computer needs power to do it. Which leads to the awkward situation that defines most of the EV calls we take.

The battery that strands an EV is almost never the big one. It is the small 12-volt battery, the same sort of ordinary lead-acid or lithium unit a gas car has, which runs the locks, the screens, the contactors and the electronics. If it dies, the car will not wake up, will not unlock, will not shift, will not release its brake, and will not enter the transport or tow mode that lets it be winched — while the traction battery under the floor sits there with plenty of charge and no way to reach any of it. People find this genuinely baffling, and understandably so.

There is usually a way in. Most manufacturers provide an external 12-volt jump point, a manual release for a door or a charge port, or a mechanical override for the parking brake, and where power can be restored the car will normally then do everything it is supposed to. Where it cannot, the vehicle goes onto the deck on skates or dollies instead of being winched. Both are routine. What is not routine is doing either without knowing which car we are dealing with, which is why the make and model matter more on this call than on any other.

Weight is the last piece. Electric vehicles carry several hundred pounds of battery that a comparable gas car does not, and electric pickups are heavier again by a wide margin. It rarely changes whether we can take a job, but it does change which truck we send, and it is a reason we ask what you drive rather than assuming a car is a car.

What we actually get called out to

How Electric Cars Get Stuck Around Here

Very little of this is what people expect. Almost none of it is the traction battery failing, and a surprising amount is seasonal.

Dead 12-volt, full traction battery

The most common EV call by far. The car is fully charged and completely inert. Sometimes solvable at the roadside by restoring 12-volt power, sometimes a flatbed job.

Out of charge before the next plug

Range read optimistically, a cold day, a longer detour than planned. We cannot bring you electricity, so this is a tow to a working charger, your home, or wherever you tell us.

Winter range that vanished

Cold weather takes a real bite out of usable range, and cabin heat takes more. Michigan Januarys turn a comfortable commute into a marginal one, and this is our EV busy season.

Charging faults away from home

A connector that will not release, a charge session that will not start, a port that has iced up overnight. Sometimes a five-minute fix, sometimes a trip to the dealer.

Collision damage near the battery

Any impact to the floor, the rocker panels or the underside is treated differently from ordinary body damage. It changes where the car goes and how it is stored once it gets there.

Flats, curb strikes and low-clearance scrapes

Ordinary problems with one wrinkle: many EVs carry no spare, and the underbody is not somewhere to improvise a jack point. Usually a flatbed rather than a roadside repair.

Tell us this and the job goes smoothly

Four Things Worth Saying on the Phone

None of these are tests and none of them change the price. They change what the operator brings, which is the difference between one visit and two.

The make and model, not just “an EV”

Transport mode, jump points and manual releases differ between manufacturers, and the operator will look yours up before heading out rather than working it out in the dark on the shoulder.

Whether the car will wake up at all

Do the lights come on, does the screen light, do the doors unlock, does it let you select a gear. Those four answers tell us immediately whether this is a 12-volt problem or something else.

Whether anything has hit the underside

A curb, a rock, a deep pothole, a snowbank with something solid in it. Impacts near the floor of an EV are treated more cautiously than the same impact on a gas car.

Any warning about the battery, and any smell or sound

A high-voltage warning, a burning or sweet chemical smell, hissing, popping, or visible smoke. If any of those are present, get away from the vehicle and call 911 before you call us.

Straight answers

EV Towing Questions

My EV will not go into neutral. Can you still load it?

Yes. This is the normal state of affairs on an EV call rather than an unusual one. If we can restore 12-volt power, the car will usually then allow transport or tow mode and roll onto the deck under the winch as intended. If it will not wake up at all, the wheels go onto skates or dollies and the vehicle is moved on those instead — slower, entirely routine, and the reason we ask what you drive before dispatching. What we will not do is drag a locked EV up a deck on its own tires.

Can you bring me a charge like you bring fuel?

No, and be skeptical of anyone who says otherwise for a meaningful amount of range. Putting usable charge into a modern EV takes real power and real time — the sort a roadside visit cannot deliver in any quantity worth the wait. The practical answer is a flatbed to somewhere with a working charger, or to your home if you charge there. Tell us where you would like to go and we will tell you honestly whether it is the closest sensible option or whether somewhere else makes more sense.

The main battery is nearly full but the car is completely dead. How?

Because they are two separate systems. The traction battery moves the car; a small 12-volt battery runs everything that decides whether the car is allowed to move — locks, screens, contactors, the parking brake. When the 12-volt fails, none of that works and the traction battery is unreachable, which is why a fully charged EV can be as immobile as one out of charge. It is also why this is our most common EV call. Restoring 12-volt power often brings the whole car back, though a battery that has failed once usually needs replacing rather than reviving.

Do you tow Teslas?

Yes, on a flatbed like every other electric vehicle. Teslas have their own transport mode and their own procedure for getting into it, and like most EVs that procedure needs the car awake, which brings you back to the 12-volt question. There is nothing exotic about the job once you know the car. Tell us the model and roughly the year when you call — the details differ across the range and across model years, and it is a great deal easier to look up before we head out than to discover on scene.

My EV was in a crash and I can smell something odd. What now?

Get everyone out and well away from the vehicle, then call 911 before you call us. A damaged high-voltage battery is a fire department matter first, and a smell, a hiss, a pop or visible smoke from underneath are all reasons to treat it that way rather than wait and see. Damaged EV batteries can also reignite well after an incident appears over, which is why a car in that condition is not simply dropped at an ordinary body shop. Once it is made safe we will move it, and we will make sure it goes somewhere equipped to store it.

Does towing an EV cost more than towing a gas car?

It is a flatbed job by necessity, so the honest comparison is against a flatbed tow rather than a wheel-lift — and against that baseline it is usually the same. Where a difference can appear is when the car will not wake up and has to be moved on skates or dollies, which takes longer on scene. Either way we quote before we dispatch, so you will know which of those you are getting while you are still on the phone rather than when the invoice arrives.

Related Services

Flatbed Towing

The method every EV tow uses. All four wheels off the ground, zero drivetrain risk.

Long-Distance Towing

Out of charge a long way from a plug. Portage to Grand Rapids, Detroit or Chicago on the deck.

Accident Towing

Collision damage, including impacts near the battery floor that need handling differently.

Electric Car Stopped in Portage?

Tell us the make, the model and whether it wakes up. That is the whole diagnosis over the phone.

☎ Call (269) 350-8697

Portage Tow Truck
Portage, MI 49002 & 49024
Phone: (269) 350-8697
Email: info@portagetowtruck.com
Open 24 hours, 7 days a week