Can you jump-start an electric car? Here's what you can and can't do

Can you bound-kickoff an electric car? Here'south what you can and can't do

nissan leaf with jumper cables connected to 12V battery

(Image credit: Tom Pritchard/Tom'southward Guide)

You lot may not know that electrical cars actually come with two batteries inside. There'south the large bombardment, which powers the motor and makes the car go, aslope a 2d smaller battery. The 2nd battery powers the low-energy features such as lights, wipers and locks, and is essential to actually switching the machine on.

In some loftier-terminate cars, the second battery is a smaller lithium-ion unit, only in a lot of cases yous'll open the hood to find a regular onetime 12-volt car battery — the same kind you'd observe in a gasoline-powered automobile, consummate with withal limitations on how long it can hold a charge.

Right at present, you might exist wondering about the human relationship between electric vehicles and leap-starting. We've all had to bound-offset our car at one point, or known someone who has, considering those 12-volt car batteries are pretty finicky things.

Do EVs ever need jump-starting? Can yous jump-start another car with an EV? The answer, unfortunately, is a piddling bit complicated.

Can you leap-start an EV?

Fortunately, in this example, things are pretty simple. You can indeed bound-start an EV the aforementioned way you can with a gas-powered car. However, the chances of you e'er having to do this are rare, thanks to the mode the power system in an EV works.

Batteries in gas-powered cars are recharged by the car itself, with the alternator (or dynamo, if your car is former enough) generating electricity from the engine's rotations. These batteries are known for losing their charge fairly quickly, and if you don't intend to drive your car for a few weeks, it pays to switch on the engine for about fifteen minutes every calendar week to ensure the battery stays charged upward.

If an EV uses a 12V battery, which the majority do, the battery will be identical to those found in other cars. Still the smaller battery draws its power from the machine's main power-train battery if its charge level dips too depression.

Information technology'south important to think that this borrowing of charge usually does not happen when the car is plugged in. If you lot leave an EV on zero-percentage master battery for long enough, the 12V bombardment will eventually die too.

What's more, in some cases having a dead 12V battery may forestall the principal battery from being recharged. That is not a situation you lot want to detect yourself in.

Information technology'southward pretty rare for an EV's 12V battery to completely die, but it tin happen. In those cases you lot can become a jump from some other automobile, just equally you would if your car even so used gas. Or you can become a trickle charger to supply power more directly provided yous're non in a hurry.

Should you always demand a jump-offset, the process is exactly the same as if yous were driving a gas car. Only brand sure to unplug the auto from a charger, considering otherwise you risk causing damage to the auto's electrical system.

Tin a jump-beginning requite you more than range?

No. A spring-start only applies to the smaller 12V bombardment, which tin can't transfer power to the larger lithium-ion battery that powers an electrical car'due south wheels. The 12V bombardment is a lot less powerful than its bigger sibling and doesn't have annihilation close to what it takes to generate the motors that turn an electric car's wheels.

Trying to recoup lost range from a spring-start is entirely fruitless and a pretty dumb thing to attempt. One of the benefits of driving an electric car is the fact that it doesn't produce any pollution while y'all drive. Trying to use a gasoline engine to recharge the battery defeats the purpose and means you might as well be driving a hybrid.

If y'all need more range, yous'll just take to find an EV charging station near you.

Can y'all use an EV to jump-starting time another auto?

You can, technically, but that doesn't hateful you lot should try to jump-commencement a gas-powered car from an electric or hybrid vehicle.

Information technology is physically possible for an EV or hybrid to jump-start another motorcar, although the process is a little different from the regular method. It can ordinarily exist accomplished past connecting both car batteries with a standard set of jumper cables and waiting for ability to alter hands. (In a regular jump-starting procedure betwixt two gasoline engines, you lot would connect the negative clench on the cables to a grounding point on the receiving car'southward frame, not to the receiving battery'southward negative pole.)

But you lot shouldn't actually exercise this, because it risks causing some significant damage to your car.

Why? It seems to be considering of how EVs operate, and what the EV'due south 12V battery really does. On a gas-powered car, the battery gives the electrical starter the juice it needs to get the internal combustion engine physically moving rapidly plenty to attain ignition.

EVs don't have an ignition circuit, because at that place's no concrete fuel that needs igniting, and their 12V batteries lack that same boot. That ways they don't have what it takes to jump-start the engine in another car.

Attempting a jump from an EV can put stress on its 12V bombardment, which isn't good for the battery itself. It tin can also misfile the battery-monitoring software, leading to unnecessary headaches down the road and potentially damaging the car's DC-to-DC converter.

The DC-to-DC converter is an essential office of an electric car, since that's how the 12V battery is able to draw power from the main battery, and is likewise how the smaller battery powers the depression-voltage systems similar lights, doors, climate control and and then on. If that converter dies on you, then your electric car is pretty much useless.

That'due south exactly why a lot of manufacturers specifically advise against using an EV to spring-start a gas-powered vehicle.

The Nissan Leaf'due south owner's manual features a alert that says "Leaf cannot exist used every bit a booster vehicle considering it cannot supply plenty power to start a gasoline engine. Withal, a gasoline engine vehicle tin exist used to bound start LEAF'southward 12-volt bombardment."

Meanwhile, the Tesla Model S handbook states that the machine tin can not exist used to jump-start another vehicle, and that doing so can result in damage to the Tesla. The manual likewise points out that using the car equally a stationary power source, which a leap-start qualifies every bit, will void your warranty.

You won't be able to do that for much longer anyway. Tesla'south 2021 Model S and Model X cars feature a proprietary 12V lithium-ion battery instead of the more common lead/acid bombardment. This change is as well rumored to be happening to the 2022 Model iii and Model Ys.

Both Nissan and Tesla, and plenty more than, confirm that information technology's perfectly safe for their electric cars to receive a bound from a gas-powered engine as long as the EVs are using regular 12V batteries. So don't let the fact your EV can't be used every bit a power source put yous off.

Lesser Line

Every bit different equally EVs are from their gas counterparts, a lot of things are still the same. The 12V bombardment is probably the best case of that and remains a cardinal component of every car on the road — excluding the few Teslas that have already fully switched to lithium-ion batteries.

If y'all have an EV, be sure to keep a pair of jumper cables in the body, only every bit you would have washed before. Just remember that with electric vehicles, the bound-kickoff system is a one manner street — you can receive power, but you tin't requite it back.

It's unfortunate, only EV owners should be aware that these gestures of generosity will put your own vehicle at risk. Trying to jump-showtime someone else'south automobile may be skillful for your karmic balance, but when the dust clears, your bank remainder won't feel the same way.

For other automobile tips and tricks, check out our guide on how to bulldoze in the snow and how to defrost a windshield without damaging information technology.

Tom is the Tom's Guide's Automotive Editor, which means he can usually exist found human knee deep in stats the latest and best electric cars, or checking out some sort of driving gadget. It'southward long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo United kingdom, when pretty much everything was on the table. He's usually found trying to squeeze some other giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining that Ikea won't let him buy the stuff he really needs online.