Guide
Electric Car Breakdowns: What Actually Goes Wrong
EV recovery is different from petrol and diesel recovery in one important way, and identical in most others. Here's what we see on the road, in the order we see it.
1. The most common EV call-out isn't range
Drivers expect an electric car to strand them by running out of charge. In practice, the fault we're called to most is a flat 12V battery. Every EV still has one, because something has to run the door locks, the screens and the contactors that connect the traction battery to the motor. When it dies, the car is completely unresponsive — and the range display, if you could see it, would still read plenty.
The good news is that this is a jump pack job. Once the 12V system wakes up, the car boots normally and drives away. If you're stuck with an EV that shows no signs of life at all, mention it on the phone — it changes what we bring and often saves you a recovery entirely.
2. Charging faults strand more people than empty batteries
A rapid charge session is a negotiation between the car, the charger and a payment network, and any of the three can refuse. The cable locks in, the screen says it's authorising, and nothing happens. Ten minutes later you're on the last of your range with no charge added.
Before you assume the car is broken:
- End the session in the app rather than pulling on the cable.
- Try a different unit on the same site — bay faults are common and specific.
- Try a different network or a slower AC unit if there's one nearby.
- Note the charger ID. Networks routinely refund failed sessions, and it helps if you report it.
3. Why your EV cannot be towed
An electric motor turned by the wheels becomes a generator. Towing an EV with its driven wheels on the ground pushes current into a system that isn't prepared for it, and most manufacturers state plainly in the handbook that the vehicle must not be towed.
That's why every EV we collect goes on a flatbed with all four wheels off the ground, and why a vehicle that can't be rolled or steered goes on skates rather than being dragged. If anyone offers to tow your electric car to a charger, decline — the drivetrain repair costs many times more than the recovery you were trying to avoid.
4. What we do and don't touch
Recovery operators work around the high-voltage system, not on it. The orange cabling, the traction battery and the isolation procedures belong to qualified EV technicians, and any operator who tells you otherwise is a risk to you and to themselves.
What we can do is jump the 12V system, release a stuck charge flap using the manufacturer's manual release, load the vehicle safely, and deliver it to a working charger, your home charge point or your dealer. That covers the overwhelming majority of EV call-outs.
5. Planning around it
Two habits prevent most EV recoveries. The first is treating 10% as empty rather than 0%, because it gives you a second charger option if the first one fails. The second is paying attention to a 12V battery warning instead of dismissing it as irrelevant on an electric car — it is the single most common reason an EV needs a truck.
If you do end up stranded, the recovery itself is unremarkable. It's a flatbed, a short conversation about where you want to go, and a price agreed before we set off.
EV stopped and won't wake up?
Tell us the make, model and what the dash is doing. Often we can get you moving without loading the car at all.
Call 03300 435121