Cybertruck · Flatbed
Night Call · OC
Low Clearance · Same Method
Fleet · Ready 24/7
Flatbed only · Transport Mode handled · No hooks near the pack · 24/7
An electric car has no gearbox to put in neutral in the way you are used to. The motor is geared to the wheels more or less permanently, so any wheel left on the road turns the motor, and a turning motor generates current back into the inverter and the pack. Tesla's owner's manual states it plainly: transporting the vehicle with its tires on the ground causes severe damage to the drive unit, and Tesla vehicles must be transported on a flatbed. Almost every other manufacturer says a version of the same thing.
This is why a wheel-lift truck — the everyday hook-and-chain-descended truck that makes up most of the fleet in Orange County — is the wrong tool for your Model Y even though it is the cheapest one to send. Two wheels on the deck and two on the freeway still spins the motor. We bring a flatbed to every EV call, without being asked.
The second problem is structural. In a combustion car there are frame rails and subframes under there to hook to. In a skateboard-platform EV, the flat thing under the car is the high-voltage battery, and it is the single most expensive component in the vehicle. Hooking a chain under an EV, or setting a jack in the wrong place, can crush or puncture a pack that costs more to replace than most cars on the road are worth.
So we do not go underneath. EVs get strapped over the tires in the wheel baskets, which puts the entire load path through the wheels and suspension and nothing at all through the floor. It takes longer than throwing two chains on. It is also the only correct way to do it, and it is why an EV tow is at the higher end of our pricing rather than the low end.
The situation we get called out to most often is not a breakdown at all — it is a car that has gone to sleep and will not wake up. The 12V battery in an EV runs the doors, the screens and the parking brake, and when it dies the car becomes a sealed box with its brakes locked on, no matter how much charge is left in the main pack.
There is a way in on every one of them. On a Model 3 or Model Y, the tow-eye cover in the front bumper hides an external 12V jump point; power there pops the frunk, which gets you to the 12V battery, which wakes the car. From there it goes into Neutral and then Transport Mode (Controls → Service → Towing), the electric parking brake releases, and the car rolls onto the deck under winch. Rivian, Lucid, Hyundai and the rest all have an equivalent procedure and an equivalent access point. If the brake genuinely will not release, skates go under the locked wheels and the car is pulled on that way.
You do not need to know any of this before you call. Our driver does.
Running a battery to zero is not like running out of gas — nobody can bring you a can and get you moving. Mobile charging units add a few miles over half an hour of sitting on a live shoulder, which is slow and genuinely dangerous on an Orange County freeway. The right answer is almost always a flatbed to the nearest fast charger: Irvine Spectrum, the Block at Orange, South Coast, Buena Park, or whichever Supercharger is closest to where you actually stopped. Tell us the nearest exit and we will work out which one.
EVs are heavy and they sit low. A Model X is around 5,400 lb, a Rivian R1T close to 7,000, a Cybertruck heavier still — and the ground clearance on an Air or a Taycan is close to what we deal with on exotics. Approach angle, ramp length and winch capacity all have to be planned before the truck arrives rather than discovered at the curb. That overlap is exactly why the exotic side of our business and the EV side use the same trucks, the same straps and the same drivers.
Orange County has one of the densest EV populations in the country. Irvine, Newport Beach, Tustin and Costa Mesa in particular — we are on EV calls in those cities most weeks, and the Cybertruck on our flatbed in the photos on this site is not a stock image.
We transport damaged electric vehicles, and we will tell you honestly what that involves. A high-voltage pack that has taken an impact can enter thermal runaway hours or even days after the crash, which is why fire-service guidance is to park a damaged EV well away from structures and other vehicles rather than tuck it into a garage. We will coordinate with the shop, dealer or storage yard on where the car can safely sit.
If the pack is visibly breached, venting, hissing or smoking, do not stand near the vehicle. Call 911 first and us second. That is a fire-service situation before it is a towing one.
No, and neither can anyone else. Tesla's own owner's manual is explicit: transporting the car with its tires on the ground causes severe damage to the drive unit, and Tesla vehicles must be transported on a flatbed. That is not a Tesla quirk — it applies to essentially every electric vehicle. A wheel-lift or a dolly under one axle still leaves the driven wheels spinning, and spinning wheels turn the motor into a generator feeding current back through the inverter. We bring a flatbed to every EV call.
Yes. On a Model 3 or Model Y the 12V system has an external jump point behind the tow-eye cover in the front bumper; applying power there pops the frunk so the car can be woken, put in Neutral and switched into Transport Mode. Most other manufacturers put a similar 12V access point somewhere accessible for exactly this reason. If the parking brake still will not release, the fallback is skates under the locked wheels and a winch pull — slower, but it gets the car on the deck without dragging it.
Transport Mode (Tesla) and the equivalent tow modes on Rivian, Lucid and others release the electric parking brake so the car can roll onto the deck. On a Tesla it is Controls → Service → Towing → Transport Mode, with the car in Neutral. If you can set it before we arrive it saves a few minutes; if you cannot, or you have no idea what we are talking about, that is fine — our driver will do it.
Realistically, no. Mobile charging units add a handful of miles over 20–30 minutes of sitting on a live shoulder, which is both slow and dangerous. Flatbedding you to the nearest Supercharger or fast charger — Irvine Spectrum, the Block at Orange, South Coast, Buena Park — is faster and safer almost every time. Tell us where you are and we will tell you the closest one.
There is no frame to hook. The floor of an EV is the battery pack, so hooking or chaining underneath risks puncturing it — the single most expensive mistake in this trade. We strap over the tires instead, in the wheel baskets, which puts zero load on the underbody. EVs also sit low and weigh a lot: a Model X is around 5,400 lb and a Rivian R1T is close to 7,000, so approach angle and winch line matter more than they do on a Civic.
We transport damaged EVs, but we are straight with you about the conditions. A high-voltage pack that has taken an impact can go into thermal runaway hours or days later, so fire-service guidance is to keep it well clear of structures and other vehicles at the destination. If the pack is visibly breached, venting, hissing or smoking, do not stand near it — call 911 first and us second. We will coordinate with the shop or yard on where it can safely sit.
All of them, in practice. Tesla Model 3, Y, S, X and Cybertruck; Rivian R1T and R1S; Lucid Air; Ford Mustang Mach-E and F-150 Lightning; Hyundai Ioniq 5 and 6; Kia EV6 and EV9; Porsche Taycan; Audi e-tron; BMW i4 and iX; Mercedes EQS; Polestar 2; Chevrolet Bolt. Plug-in hybrids too — those still should not be flat-towed.
The same structure as any flatbed job — roughly $95–$250 for a local tow depending on distance and time of day, with EVs at the higher end because loading them properly takes longer. We quote before we dispatch. Call (657) 527-4061.
Available 24/7 across all of Orange County.