Frequently Asked Questions

Rescue charging is like bringing a small amount of gasoline to a gasoline vehicle. Rescue charging aids a stranded (or almost stranded) electric vehicle by giving the vehicle 5-10 rescue miles to enable them to get to the nearest land-based, high-speed EV charger. With our unit, giving 5-10 miles will take about 20 minutes. Don’t believe the marketing of other units that say “up to 1 mile per minute!”

Convenience charging is where a mobile EV charger is brought to an EV to provide convenience so the EV does not need to drive to a land-based charger. Typically convenience charging provides near-full or full battery charges.

That depends a lot on your location and what a tow costs for 5-10 miles. Generally you can charge about the same amount of money as you would to tow a gasoline-operated vehicle (some people feel you can charge a bit more; some feel it should be a bit less). 

In general, we recommend you have a plug fee (similar to how tow companies have a hook fee) and then add an electricity fee (similar to tow companies and their mileage fee). 

For example, you might charge $100 for the plug fee just to show up, and then $100 for 20 minutes of charging (that should give them 5 to 10 rescue miles). If they want another 20 minutes, perhaps charge them another $50. 

Giving a 5-10 mile rescue charge will take about 20 minutes with a standard level 2 EV mobile charger.  Some competitive offerings say “up to 1 mile per minute” but be very suspicious of this.  When EVs are down near zero battery, they protect themselves and charge more slowly.  Very hot and very cold weather can also adversely affect this charging speed.

Not practically.  Using any generator-type charger is like using a squirt gun to fill a bath tub.  Giving a full charge, say from 20% to 100% would take many, many hours with this unit. High Speed DC fast-chargers are available as portable units, but they are very, very, very expensive to be able to give a full charge.  And they are also very, very big and heavy.

Talk to them. Most are reasonable. We’ve been told they will allow you to bill this as a “Fuel Service” rather than a jump start that does not pay as well. Remember, it is in their interest to have mobile EV rescue chargers.

First, make sure the inverter generator is off and NEVER unplug an EV while it is charging under load.  If the plug gets locked into the vehicle and will not release, and after ensuring your inverter generator is off, look inside the EV behind where the plug is plugged into the vehicle.  There is typically a panel behind that which can be removed and a pull cable to release the lock on the plug.