We’ve been towing boats with EVs since 2021 with good results, but we thought we’d try to test the capability a little further recently. What if you could use an EV to tow two boats, removing the emissions of a second vehicle completely?

To do this we sourced a double trailer and loaded up our Model Y with two boats and four sailors for a weekend sailing event. The regatta venue was 115km from our starting point and the EV made light work of towing the substantially larger load.

Aerodynamics certainly affect the energy consumption and the elevated second boat is located right out of the slipstream of the car, and so creates considerable drag at highway speeds.

A Kia EV9 with its larger tailgate height may be a better solution for this towing configuration, but regardless the Model Y made the journey with efficiency of around 25kwhr/100km, which is reasonable and still provides a useful and workable amount of range.

There were unfortunately no charging facilities at the regatta venue so we weren’t able to recharge until the return journey where a stop of 10 minutes at the Tesla supercharger saw us refill the battery sufficiently to make it home with a comfortable margin of charge.

Admittedly this journey was not a Nullabor crossing towing a two-tonne camper, but it demonstrates that EVs are capable of many functions including towing large loads in certain circumstances.

Anyone considering an EV but put off by perceived constraints on their capability should ensure they evaluate the potential carefully as they may find that an EV is actually capable of doing much more than first thought.

In the mean time, EVs will continue to quietly prove themselves as capable family vehicles for many applications around the country.

Last year, Monty Lang wrote one of our favourite stories Tesla Model 3 tows boat 3200km on epic road trip costing half the price of diesel helping dispel myths about EV capabilities.