Towing a Leaf?

Having driven a manual transmission most of my life, towing my vehicle generally isn't an issue. However I know with automatics that some you can tow and some you can't.

Anybody know anything about what it will take to tow (tow bar or front wheel dolly) a Leaf?

TIA

idashark said:

Having driven a manual transmission most of my life, towing my vehicle generally isn't an issue. However I know with automatics that some you can tow and some you can't.

Anybody know anything about what it will take to tow (tow bar or front wheel dolly) a Leaf?

TIA

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The Leaf does not have an automatic, it has a fixed gear transfer case but you don't want to tow it with the drive wheels on the ground. If you front wheel dolly any FWD car it's not an issue of course. Some MFG don't like EVs to be towed with the wheels on the ground and regardless I would not do so on a car like this. IIn fact I would only flatbed a car like this or have it shipped.

Flatbed is always the best way to tow ANY vehicle, but many times that is simply impractical as you have to put that long trailer somewhere.

However, nearly any vehicle (even AWD vehicles in MOST cases) can be towed by a 2-wheel dolly easily, and they are cheap and small and easy to use/store. I would assume that the Leaf would work fine with that type of dolly, of course I would want confirmation of that before doing so.

I know that on my direct-drive Zap Xebra, they warn strongly against towing because the motor can really only handle about 50 mph before it tears itself apart. Probably not the case in the Leaf since it's motor can obviously handle higher speeds, but who knows what the effects are of putting an external load on the drive wheels.

Although I just thought of something cool, what if you could engage the regen just a little, so that while not introducing any significant lag you were actually charging the Leaf while being towed? That would be sweet!

In the LEAF, even with the front wheels off the ground, the "parking brake" might still be locking the rear wheels.

There might not be any way to turn OFF the parking brake unless the LEAF is ON.

Then, turning the LEAF back OFF again quite possibly auto-sets the parking brake, I do not know.

Just moving an unattended LEAF enough to get it onto a flat-bed might require draging it with locked wheels.

We need Nissan to specify the proper procedure to use (to avoid potential damage to the car).

Generally speaking (meaning I haven't heard of a car yet where this was not the case, but I'm not an expert) the parking brake (putting the shifter into "park") ONLY locks the drive wheels. The separate "emergency brake" (i.e. hand brake, foot brake, sometimes called parking brake as well) is different, and can/will usually lock the rear wheels as well. You should be able to engage/disengage the e-brake manually, or with some button mechanism.

FYI, the volt's e-brake is controlled by a switch, and you have to hold the switch in/out to engage/disengage the e-brake. I do NOT like that, as it takes a couple seconds of holding the button to do either. I see it as something that I would just never do, because it's a hassle rather than stepping on an e-brake pedal or pulling up the hand brake. Not to mention, how are you going to do that in an emergency situation if your power brakes fail? But I guess that's a rant for another thread so I'll stop there.

The other option is that the Leaf should have a "neutral" setting as well. I'm pretty sure the test mule that I drove had that, although I didn't try it out. Not sure if that would disengage the drive wheels from the motor, allowing for towing, but I would think would avoid any potential "automatic locking" of the rear wheels.

Of course, this entire thread will be obsolete as soon as they get around to publishing the owners manual. Every car out there has a towing section in the owners manual, Leaf should be no different. All will be explained there, even if it's a one-word: "Don't"!

The "Park" on the shifter and the "parking brake" are different thngs.

Question is:
Does the Parking Brake get set ON automatically when the LEAF is turned OFF?

idashark said:

Having driven a manual transmission most of my life, towing my vehicle generally isn't an issue. However I know with automatics that some you can tow and some you can't.

Anybody know anything about what it will take to tow (tow bar or front wheel dolly) a Leaf?

TIA

Click to expand...

Is the point of your question for towing behind a motor home? I think you'd need a tow dolly for that; I'd be very surprised if Nissan would certify 4 wheels down towing. For emergency towing, it will be whatever the owner's manual says, although these days it seems all the towing companies use flat bed trucks.

Although that does raise an interesting question... could you have the L1 charger connected to the coach to charge off the generator while you're towing (the greenies will love that). If the back wheels have nothing more than a simple cable/mechanical parking brake setup and you have the Leaf on a tow dolly, I don't see why not... the Leaf wouldn't know the difference between that and being parked.

Disconnet the battery and flat bed the car on the truck

The "Parking Brake" is probably electrically-locked hydraulic, not a mechanical cable.

I'm not sure how it works.

It seems to take "time" when you engage and disengage the parking brake. You have to wait for the little light to turn off before you can drive. Could be tensioning a cable? Seems over-engineered. The two distant controls (engage and release) are also odd.

"Distant" controls, I do not understand.

It is one lever, with UP (for ON) or DOWN (for OFF) on the same lever.

The "P" (Park) on the "shifter" is not associated with the Parking Brake.

The pause in turning the Parking Brake ON most likely allows the hydraulic system to pressurize and "clamp" the rear (and front also?) brakes, and "lock" the pressure.

Similarly, in turning the Parking Brake OFF, the "pressure-lock" is released, and the delay allows the pressure to reduce so that the disc brake calipers "un-clamp" the discs.

garygid said:

It is one lever, with UP (for ON) or DOWN (for OFF) on the same lever.

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Gary.
I did not operate the parking brake on my test drive, but the way it was explained to me by the tech riding along was that you pulled the lever up to set it, but that there was a button underneath the lever to release it. Did I misunderstand, or was he ill-informed?
TT

I did operate the Parking Brake, a simple, short-duration press down on the lever (only a small actual movement of the lever), release, and wait for the light to go off to Release the Brake, and a similar small, short-duration pull up (only about a quarter of an inch) and then about a 2-second wait to Set the Parking Brake.

Unknown: Does it pressurize both the front and the rear hydraulic systems and thus "clamp" all 4 wheels (generally safer), or just the rear-wheel system?

ttweed said:

garygid said:

It is one lever, with UP (for ON) or DOWN (for OFF) on the same lever.

Click to expand...

Gary.
I did not operate the parking brake on my test drive, but the way it was explained to me by the tech riding along was that you pulled the lever up to set it, but that there was a button underneath the lever to release it. Did I misunderstand, or was he ill-informed?
TT

Click to expand...

I believe you got the same instruction I did. There was one lever to pull UP (for parking brake engage), and some other button you push to disengage. Watching people get in to drive, this seemed like it took more time to explain than starting the car.

Really, I don't get the whole thing. It's an EV. Just have it engage the parking brake while I'm getting out. It's in Park already, and the car is turned off. Just do it quietly. Maybe when I open the driver's door. The whole complicated control feels like an anachronism.

Well, I specifically tested the PB Control, turning the PB on and off (twice) using the one "PB" lever.

I conclude that your instructions were confusing or faulty.

I assume the Leaf has a parking pall like a traditional auto transmission, so when you put it in park the drive wheels become "locked". It doesn't have a multi-gear "transmission", but it does have a reduction gear and differential that a pall could be built into. I realize that you should use the parking brake on hills, but on flat areas I never set the parking brake on auto transmission vehicles. If it doesn't have a pall, we're going to have a lot of Leafs rolling around by themselves unless the Leaf auto-engages the parking brake whenever it's put into park.

The electronic parking brake sounds a lot like the new Subaru Legacy/Outback parking brake... basically it uses the main hydraulic disc brake system (either it has a motor to pressurize it for you, or you need your foot on the brake when engaging it and it closes a valve so when you take your foot off the brake it won't release).

Also, parking brakes are not really designed to be "emergency" brakes... with 4-wheel disc brake systems, even though it uses a cable for the parking brake to bypass the hydraulics, it just clamps the rear discs, so the parking brake is useless in an emergency if you have brake fade or toasted pads/rotors. With the Leaf I wouldn't worry about using the parking brake in emergencies anyway, even if the hydraulics fail, regen should allow you to slow the vehicle with a bit extended stopping distance (and you don't even have to think about how to apply the parking brake or downshift, just press the brake pedal and you'll get regen minus hydraulic brake pressure).

blorg said:

Every car out there has a towing section in the owners manual, Leaf should be no different. All will be explained there, even if it's a one-word: "Don't"!

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Remember that not all tows are voluntary or supervised.


It would sure make illegal parking worse to find out the car was towed, impounded, and ruined.

Just to update this topic, here is the relevant section from the Users Manual:

"If your vehicle needs to be towed, do it with the front wheels raised. If the front wheels are on the ground when towing, the traction motor may generate electricity. This may damage the components of the EV (Electric Vehicle) system and cause a fire."

It seems to me that there should be some SAFE way to tow the LEAF moderate or extended distances with 4 wheels on the ground.

Perhaps it would require the LEAF to be ON and READY and in "N", but they do not want to suggest that?

To say it "might" generate with no mention of how to do it safely, is a serious omission.

Certainly one needs to get out of "P" mode, and "D", "R", and "ECO" do not appear to be choices that would be better than "N". Also, the Parking Brake must be released.

Then, one "should" be able to tow the LEAF, or even push it manually ... or so one would think.

Yes, we should have a proper response from Nissan engineers on how to do this safely, without danger of damaging the LEAF.

Even Remco does not yet have a kit to tow the Leaf 4 down.

http://www.remcotowing.com/vehicles