Prime Minister Scott Morrison says an electric vehicle can't tow a boat or trailer. Is he correct?

Updated

The claim

In response to Labor's plan to accelerate Australia's uptake of electric vehicles by introducing a target of 50 per cent of new car sales being electric by 2030, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that "Bill Shorten wants to end the weekend".

Speaking to reporters in Melbourne, he said: "[An electric vehicle] won't tow your trailer. It's not going to tow your boat. It's not going to get you out to your favourite camping spot with your family."

So, do electric vehicles have insufficient power to tow a trailer or boat, or to travel a reasonable distance for holidaymakers?

RMIT ABC Fact Check investigates.

The verdict

Mr Morrison's claim is in need of a tune up.

Right now, there are a handful of electric vehicles available on the Australian market and only around half specify towing capacity. However, those powerful enough to tow a boat or caravan come with a hefty price tag of $100,000 or more.

Experts told Fact Check that electric vehicles under development by leading manufacturers and due to be released onto the market well before 2030, are likely to have the capacity to tow a trailer or boat with similar efficiency as petrol-based vehicles.

Electric vehicles produce a high level of torque which determines towing capacity; some models, in fact, have a higher power output than standard petrol vehicles.

The experts also noted that standard electric vehicles now on the market could travel, on average, 300 to 400 kilometres on a single charge. Some models — the Tesla Model X, for example — could reach up to 500 kilometres, with towing capacity.

This means that the most efficient of these models could make a trip from Melbourne to the Grampians on a single charge, depending on driving style and conditions. The same holds for driving from Sydney to Narooma.

Experts told Fact Check it was unwise making comparisons between current and fast-evolving technology.

Given Labor's policy involved targets for 2030, they pointed to the ability of manufacturers to keep improving the capabilities of electric vehicles.

Context to the claim

Labor recently announced its National Electric Vehicle policy, which aims to increase Australia's uptake of electric vehicles by setting a target of 50 per cent for new vehicle sales by 2030.

Similarly, the Government has put forward its own National Strategy for Electric Vehicles.

However, in response to Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's reference to the charge time for an electric vehicle, Mr Morrison warned against Labor's 50/50 target, saying Mr Shorten would prevent Australians from driving 4WDs and SUVs.

Referring to the price of electric vehicles, Mr Morrison said the cheapest currently available "is about $45,000 to $50,000".

"That's the cheapest car Bill Shorten wants to make available to you to buy in the future," he said.

Electric vehicles on the Australian market in 2019 and beyond

Many of the world's leading car manufacturers — General Motors, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Toyota and Hyundai — have all started manufacturing fully-electric models.

In the US, Ford recently announced it would build a fully electric version of its popular F-Series pick-up truck.

Toyota has committed to hybrid, electric and hydrogen fuel-cell variants for its entire range to be made available to markets in China, Japan, the US, Europe and India by 2025, and which includes its HiLux and LandCruiser SUV.

However, in Australia, there is a limited range of electric vehicles available to consumers, and the take-up of electric vehicles as a proportion of the new car market in Australia lags that of other OECD countries.

There are eight fully electric models currently sold in Australia: Tesla, Renault and Hyundai each make two; Jaguar and BMW each have one model.

New models marketed for forthcoming release in Australia include one each from Nissan, Tesla, Audi and Mercedes.

Of these cars, five are being promoted with towing capacity: the Tesla X, Renault Kangoo Z.E and the Jaguar (which are all already available), as well as the new Audi and Mercedes models.

What is torque?

Just like combustion engines, electric vehicles also produce torque, which is what drives a vehicle forward. Torque is measured in Newton-metres, or Nm.

This is the force that causes the wheels to rotate through the engine's crankshaft — the more torque the engine is able to produce, the higher the turning power and the more acceleration is achieved.

Electric vehicles are especially good at producing a high output of torque because the energy generated by the electric motor, is instantaneously transferred to the wheels through the car's transmission.

Having an electric motor eliminates the need for a traditional gearbox.

In fuel-based engines, torque is generated through the burning of petrol or diesel to cause combustion, which then works to turn the crankshaft to power the turning of the wheels.

Electric vehicles have a high torque from the standstill, whereas an internal combustion engine needs to rev its engine to a certain speed in order to achieve a high torque.



Can electric vehicles tow?

Experts told Fact Check it was incorrect to suggest that electric vehicles generally did not have towing capacity.

Most electric vehicles have plenty of pulling power, reflected in their high output of torque.

A number of electric vehicles currently on the Australian market (and coming in 2019) generate power not too dissimilar to a standard petrol-fuelled vehicle. These models produce between 300 and 600Nm of torque.

The petrol-based Hyundai Kona produces a maximum output of 180Nm and a braked towing capacity of 1,300 kilograms, depending on fuel-tank capacity.

In comparison, the Hyundai Kona electric produces 395Nm of torque but is not engineered for towing.

Professor John Andrew, of RMIT's School of Engineering, said there was no reason why electric vehicles would not be able to tow.

The "electric traction put in a vehicle — depending on how it's sized — can pull just as much as a petrol engine," he said.

He told Fact Check that a vehicle's towing capacity was dependent on what it was designed to do.

"What I think is happening is the current generation of electric cars have been designed to get a range that is as high as possible on a single charge and they have not been designed for pulling trailers or caravans and things like that.

"But there's no reason why — in the future — if this was a requirement, that vehicles couldn't be designed to do that. There's nothing in the technology that stops you.

"There's nothing inherent in the technology that rules that out."

Power shift

*Torque, as measured in Newton metres (Nm)

**Current and soon-to-be-released electric vehicle models

National Roads and Motorists' Association (NRMA) spokesperson Peter Khoury cited a video of the Tesla Model X towing a 130-tonne Boeing 787 in 2018, as evidence of electric vehicle grunt.

"Because there's more torque in an electric vehicle, it's likely to have a greater towing capacity than petrol and diesel vehicles," Mr Khoury told Fact Check.

"We only have eight or nine vehicles with towing capacity in Australia, [but] it depends on what you're driving, how much you're towing, how heavy it is and how far you want to tow.

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"Towing with an electric vehicle will drain the battery the same way that towing a caravan means you consume more petrol because you need more torque and engine capacity to be able to tow the vehicle properly."

The director of the Renewable Energy Vehicle Project at the University of Western Australia, Professor Thomas Braunl, said there was no inherent disadvantage in electric vehicles in terms of towing ability (for instance, the additional weight of the car because of its heavier battery compared to a standard fuel engine).

"Whether a car has towing capacity doesn't necessarily depend on whether a car is battery or petrol run — it's more focused on the way it is made."

Some smaller electric vehicles also look to develop models with towing capacity.

Hyundai's senior manager of future mobility and government relations, Scott Nargar, told Fact Check: "Currently, the two Hyundai electric vehicles imported to Australia [Kona and Ioniq] are not rated for towing.

"Towing capability is under consideration for future electric vehicles for the Australian market."

Professor Andrew referred to the Australian start-up ACE Electric Vehicle, which has developed a range of small utility electric vehicles due to hit the market this year, as an example of emerging new players in the electric vehicle market.

How far can an electric vehicle travel on a full charge?

Most of the electric vehicles entering the Australian market can travel 250 kilometres or beyond on a single charge.

Highest among them is the forthcoming Tesla 3, which is estimated by the company to reach a range of up to 500 kilometres on a single charge.

Professor Braunl told Fact Check that the range of electric vehicles today means they are no longer restricted to city driving.

"That was maybe the case 10 years ago," he said. "That's no longer the case.

"The smallest is [around] 250 kilometre range and many have 400-plus [kilometres].

"All modern electric vehicles have a range of 300 to 400 kilometres, while the average car in Australia only travels around 36 kilometres per day.

"Even the Hyundai Kona Electric has a range of over 400 kilometres."

"Range anxiety does not exist in modern electric vehicles," he added





How far they can go

*The WLTP is the Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test procedure. A 'real-world' test for cars sold in the European market; it is also applied to some cars available in Australia.

^Actual driving results (ADR) will vary depending on a combination of driving style, type of journey, vehicle configuration, battery age and condition, use of vehicle features (such as heating and air conditioning), as well as operating, environmental and climate condition.

The NRMA's Mr Khoury said the Australian market was "not at price parity" and, although he expected this to happen over the next few years, purchasing an electric vehicle in Australia was expensive.

For instance, the second generation Nissan LEAF, which reaches a range of 240 kilometres, costs upwards of $50,000.

For higher-end brands such as Tesla, prices start at $100,000 and above.

Furthermore…

Mr Khoury said one of the challenges with the electric vehicle debate was that comparisons were being made between today's technology and future technology.

"People are making comparisons in 2019 between electric vehicles and diesel/petrol engines and what we've been saying is — fast forward the technology 11 years and there will be a marked difference between the two.

"When you're talking about looking at global bans on petrol and diesel cars in some countries from 2030, which is where the debate is heading, that's not about today, it's about 2030.

"We need to apply the technology and price [for new car sales] on where you will be in 11 years' time — not now.

"So, the challenge we've got is to communicate that to people."

UWA's Professor Braunl said: "The problem in Australia is there are only seven or so electric vehicle models you can purchase and more than half of them are over $100,000.

"But this is a fault of high development costs and a lack of subsidies.

"The problem is that many other countries can pay subsidies for electric vehicles and market-wise in Australia, it's quite slow.

"That means manufacturers don't even bother bringing models into the country — the political climate is not there."

Principal researcher: Natasha Grivas

factcheck@rmit.edu.au

Sources

Here's why electric cars have plenty of grunt, oomph and torque, Jack Whitehead, The Conversation, April 16, 2019

Australian Electric Vehicle Market Study, Arena, May 2018

The state of electric vehicles in Australia, Climate Works Australia, June 2018

Electric vehicles the future is here, Ergon Energy

The charge is on: The latest and greatest electric vehicles coming to Australia in 2019, Alex Forrest, RAC, November 20, 2018

Electric vehicles: the future is here, Ergon Energy, November 2014

Don't trust the environmental hype about electric vehicles? The economic benefits might convince you, Gail Broadbent & Graciela Metternicht, The Conversation, April 11, 2018

EV buyer's guide: what you should know, Origin energy, October 23, 2018

2019 Federal election: the truth about electric vehicles, David Bonnici, Whichcar, April 8, 2018

Topics: science-and-technology, government-and-politics, federal-government, federal-elections, australia

First posted