Electric vehicles increase costs for towing companies

• By Lucy Albright and Christina Van Waasbergen/LNP | LancasterOnline

This story is published in partnership with our sister newsroom LNP | LancasterOnline.

Seven-thousand-dollars to create a metal fire containment structure, $800 for a car-sized fire suppression blanket, funding for safety training and countless employee hours learning new procedures.

Local towing companies are beginning to grapple with the cost of handling electric vehicles, with more and more hitting the roads here and across the country. The number in Lancaster County shot up from 29 in 2013 to 1,277 in 2022, according to the state.

The end result is that these new costs will likely be passed on to consumers.

Cocker’s Towing Inc. in Mount Joy Township is among those investing in special equipment to deal with the increase in EVs.

Tow truck driver Chris Wilkinson said Cocker’s has yet to tow any wrecked fully electric vehicles, but he decided a year ago the company needed to purchase equipment to handle EV wrecks. He cited posts from Facebook towing groups discussing towing companies in major cities dealing with EVs.

“That’s what really makes you think, you know, if they’re dealing with them now, we’re going to have to deal with them here real soon,” he said.

In addition to the investment in equipment are the precautions tow truck operators must take to avoid injuries related to working with EVs.

Because EV systems do not have a single standard way to cut off the power, what cuts the power on one vehicle will not work on others. This lack of standardization, as well as other concerns, “put all emergency responders — including tow operators, firefighters, et cetera — in harm’s way, when we can’t be sure the vehicle’s de-energized,” said Brian Riker, executive director of the Pennsylvania Towing Association.

For example, he said, this leads to situations where a tow operator needs to take the time to look up an EV’s service manual while on the side of the road, which can put their life in danger.

According to Randy Geissler, president of Patriot Towing & Transport Inc. in West Hempfield Township, extra costs related to EVs will get passed onto customers.

“We kind (of) have no choice. That’s the way any industry is,” Geissler said. “You have to pass on. You can’t eat it.”

The pricing chart displayed in the Patriot Towing office shows the current base rate for routine crash towing is $190. If a an electric or hybrid vehicle is at elevated risk of fire, the price can be raised to $250 or $310, depending on the risk level. These levels are assigned by Energy Security Agency, a company that offers risk assessment for EV wrecks.

Other fees — including for isolation storage, temperature monitoring and administrative work — also add more to the total towing cost for a hybrid or electric car. While standard storage is charged at $75 per day, for example, EVs and hybrids at medium or high risk of fire cost $275 per day.

Riker said he sees EVs as an important part of the progression towards cleaner energy and fuel efficiency standards.

“But we see it as something that we need time as an industry to be fully prepared for, as (EVs) grow,” Riker said.

Equipment needs

Cocker’s Towing already had several large metal dumpsters, which Cocker’s Towing Vice President and Chris Wilkinson’s father, Randy Wilkinson, said can be used to store cars at risk of fire, preventing a possible fire from spreading to nearby vehicles. The company spent about $7,000 to modify one of the dumpsters to house EVs, adding wheels so it could be loaded onto a truck.

“You have (an electric car) that has a little fender bender … if (the battery) shifted it could catch fire,” Randy Wilkinson said.

Chris Wilkinson said Cocker’s also bought two vehicle fire blankets at around $700 to $800 each to place over EVs at risk of igniting. The blankets can be reused as long as they aren’t damaged, but if they are cut by a sharp edge on a vehicle, for example, then they’ll no longer keep out oxygen, and the company will have to buy a new one.

Randy Wilkinson said the company also has a TowTrack, which they got almost two years ago. Though they didn’t buy it specifically for EVs, it can be useful for the vehicles. The machine can pick up a car and place it onto a flatbed, which saves them from having to put EVs in neutral, Chris Wilkinson said, something that can be difficult to do if the battery is dead.

Chris Wilkinson said the company is following guidance from manufacturers on how to handle EVs.

But he and Randy Wilkinson said there’s still a lot even the manufacturers don’t know about how to safely tow these vehicles, and everyone is essentially learning on the job.

“It’s all trial and error,” Randy Wilkinson said.

Geissler said he bought a thermal imaging camera for around $900 to monitor the temperature of EV batteries. He also said he spent several thousand dollars to build two concrete block containment structures to store EVs.

“Fortunately we haven’t had any issues with fire but … it’s just a lot of high maintenance, you know, dealing with the … EVs,” Geissler said.

Equipment isn’t the only extra cost associated with EVs, Riker said. Training and labor costs could increase as the vehicles gain popularity. EVs are often heavier than gas cars, he said, and will require heavier trucks, which in turn means drivers will need commercial licenses.

And for towing companies that handle EVs, not having a proper containment area can cause property insurance rates to go up. Part of that, Riker said, has to do with the cleanup required after a fire. If an EV fire is extinguished using water, the runoff can cause pollution, which is costly to remediate. Riker said he’s been involved in an insurance claim where cleanup after an EV fire cost more than $1 million.

Best practice, Riker said, is to allow an EV fire to burn out naturally — as long as it’s safely contained and not at risk of spreading. He said the fire department is best equipped to make this call.

Safety concerns

Lancaster County doesn’t collect data on lithium-ion battery fires, as LNP | LancasterOnline reported in September. And federal statistics on fire risk in EVs are not readily available. But anecdotes and high profile cases have brought attention to the dangers of EV fires.

“Our understanding from trainings we have attended is that electric vehicles catch fire about one-tenth as often as a comparable gasoline vehicle of the same age,” Pennsylvania Department of Transportation press secretary Alexis Campbell wrote in an email.

But, she wrote, when an EV does catch fire, it’s a more significant event.

“When EVs burn, they burn uncontrollably — sometimes for hours — and take large … quantities of water to cool them off,” Riker said.

An example of what can happen came locally on Feb. 6, when first responders from Manheim and West Earl townships responded to a fire involving a car carrier transporting two EVs on Route 222. After the fire was extinguished, the EVs were stored in containers for 30 days in case they reignited.

Manheim Township Fire Rescue Chief Scott Little told LNP | LancasterOnline for a September story they were fortunate the fire started in the car carrier and that the EVs were only lightly damaged, otherwise the fire could have been much worse.

“The manufacturers recommend 3,000 to 8,000 gallons of water to put out an EV car,” Little said. “How are we going to achieve that when our fire trucks only carry 500 to 1,000 gallons at a time?”

Through a process called thermal runaway, damaged lithium-ion batteries can spontaneously heat up, catch fire or explode. This can happen multiple days after the initial accident, Riker said. And it can be caused by a collision or by water damage.

Riker said that members of the Pennsylvania Towing Association are encouraged to call the Energy Security Agency when towing a damaged EV. The company, which offers the risk analysis service to tow professionals for free, looks at photos from accident scenes and asks questions to determine the risk level.

For a vehicle at risk of thermal runaway, special storage precautions are in order. Riker said that best practices involve storing it away from other vehicles or isolating it in a fire-resistant structure for up to 15 days — though some tow companies choose to keep the car isolated the whole time they have it onsite, he said.

“There is guidance that says 15 days, but there is no hard and fast regulation that says it’s safe unequivocally after that 15-day quarantine period,” Riker said.

Riker said a vehicle must be powered off before it’s loaded onto a truck. Not doing so would be like working on a blender while the blade is still spinning. The car could lurch forward, for example, and run over a tow driver, he said. And it could also pose the risk of fire or electric shock.

While typical gas cars make it easy to turn off the engine by taking the key out of the ignition, immobilizing an EV requires finding the vehicle disconnect for the battery, Riker said. He said this system isn’t standardized. On some cars you can unplug the battery, while on others there is a series of switches or a wire that can be cut.

Towing an EV or hybrid in a way that allows the drive wheels to turn can also be a risk. According to the National Fire Prevention Association, that’s because of the regenerative braking systems these cars have.

Geissler said EVs can generate power to the battery when the wheels turn. Because of that, manufacturers advise against pulling an EV at highway speed. For both electric and gas vehicles, Geissler’s company uses flatbed trucks where the wheels don’t turn during transport.