[Neilto]

I was asked by a guy in a car park yesterday to give him a jump start as his battery had died. Was in my Passat GTE. Sure I said and opened the bonnet looking for a positive terminal. Couldn't find one so he gave up with me and went off to get someone else. When I got home I thought I'd better refer to the manual where it says that you should not use a hybrid car to jump another car for fear of "damaging the electrics". Wonder if it means the donor car electrics or patient car electrics? Either way apparently its a no no. Maybe there should be a more prominent sign to say this under the bonnet as I was unaware of this until yesterday.

Also got me thinking that your average AA technician has a lot more to think about these days with all the diverse types of car on the roads.

 

[TomH]

I was asked by a guy in a car park yesterday to give him a jump start as his battery had died. Was in my Passat GTE. Sure I said and opened the bonnet looking for a positive terminal. Couldn't find one so he gave up with me and went off to get someone else. When I got home I thought I'd better refer to the manual where it says that you should not use a hybrid car to jump another car for fear of "damaging the electrics". Wonder if it means the donor car electrics or patient car electrics? Either way apparently its a no no. Maybe there should be a more prominent sign to say this under the bonnet as I was unaware of this until yesterday.

Also got me thinking that your average AA technician has a lot more to think about these days with all the diverse types of car on the roads.

I wonder what percentage of breakdowns they fix at the roadside nowadays. It must be very tempting to call out a flatbed and leave it all to the workshops. Specially when you are not supposed to tow some cars now.

 

[dk6780]

I bet that they include all of the wheel changes in the figures to inflate their success rate. The RAC claim to fix four out of five within 30 minutes.

 

[80698]

You can jump start an EV or Hybrid. I have had to do so many times before when working on them.
You can also use an EV or Hybrid to jump start other cars. It is just recommended that you don't because the 12v batteries supplied by the manufacturers for these cars are typically weaker than what you get in the average ICE vehicle due to the lack of requirement to actually start an engine. The biggest risk is that you simply run your EV's 12v battery down and the voltage is too low for it to start, throwing up all sorts of weird and random electrical errors. It's defnitely not as bad or scary as they all claim in the manual. (I still take no responsibility if you try and something does happen to go wrong however!)

I wonder what percentage of breakdowns they fix at the roadside nowadays. It must be very tempting to call out a flatbed and leave it all to the workshops. Specially when you are not supposed to tow some cars now.

Most breakdown companies are just instructed to flatbed EVs to the dealer to work on. Other than basic work like fitting a spare wheel (not that many models have them these days) because the driver hasn't got a clue how to do it, or diagnosing a bad 12v battery, the breakdown mechanics tend to not touch them. By their own admission a lot of the mechanics I have talked to, even the ones contracted out specifically by EV Manufacturers, simply don't have full training for plug-in vehicles and just have to go off what mechanical knowledge can be carried over from working on ICE.

Of course if you're in a basic petrol or diesel car and you call for breakdown assistance they will still happily get their hands dirty and spend a considerable amount of time trying to get you going again at the roadside.

 

[Hitstirrer]

A few years I asked an AA guy what training they had on EVs. He said he had been told not to lick anything orange.

 

[TomH]

A few years I asked an AA guy what training they had on EVs. He said he had been told not to lick anything orange.

Pretty thorough then!

I have stuck with VW's breakdown cover for my Golf GTE on the grounds that they would know what they are doing. Turns out that it is provided by the AA!

Haven't needed it so far (3 years).

 

[Johnny Read]

I keep a portable jump starter in the car at all times. If my 12v battery goes flat, it will allow the car to start. If I need to help another driver, then they can use the kit, rather than mess around with jump leads.

Most of them also work as a powerbank and have a led lamp. Around £50 on some of the daily deals. Id always get one with the boost button, which will allow the unit to work even if no 12v battery is actually connected. The one I have was from amazon and looked similar to the iClever 800A 20000mAh unit.