Every electric vehicle actually has two batteries: a small 12V battery that runs the lights, locks, and electronics (just like a petrol or diesel car), and the much larger traction battery that powers the motor and the wheels. Which one has failed changes everything about what happens next.
12V battery flat vs traction battery flat
- If the 12V battery is flat, the car may not even power on — this is a jump-start situation, similar to a standard car, and is usually a quick fix. See our guide on jump start & battery callout costs for that scenario.
- If the traction battery has run out of charge, the car has genuinely run out of "fuel" — there's no jump-starting a flat EV battery back to a driveable state. This needs either a mobile charging top-up (where available) or recovery to a charge point.
Why towing an EV isn't always straightforward
This is the part that surprises a lot of EV drivers: many electric vehicles cannot be flat-towed (towed with all four wheels on the ground) at all, because towing turns the motor and can generate electricity that the system isn't designed to handle while parked — this can cause real damage. Most EVs need to be recovered on a flatbed with all wheels off the ground, rather than towed behind a truck the way some petrol or diesel cars can be. Always check your specific vehicle's handbook, but assume flatbed recovery is the safe default for an EV.
Our approach: we recover EVs on a flatbed as standard, and we'll ask whether it's the 12V or the main battery that's the problem before dispatching, since the two need completely different help.
Avoiding it in the first place
Running an EV down to genuinely empty is rarer than running low on fuel used to be, because most EVs give earlier and more persistent low-charge warnings — but range estimates can shift with cold weather, motorway speeds, or an unfamiliar route, so it's worth charging before you think you need to on a longer trip, not right up to the estimated limit.
EV stopped and not sure which battery it is?
The bottom line
A flat 12V battery in an EV is a normal jump-start job — a flat traction battery is a recovery job, almost always on a flatbed. Telling us which situation you're in when you call gets the right help moving straight away.