some more than others, based on the greater concentration of EVs in select regions of the U.S., California tops the EV market in terms of units sold, with other regions like Texas, Fla., Wash., and N.Y. growing their base while the Midwest and South lag behind. Sandra Sabbagh, a Sr. Director at Honk, a company which offers a free tow and roadside assistance app and works with approximately 75,000 individual service-providers, indicated that
they saw a shift in the market about three years ago. Keenly focused on identifying where towers are equipped and trained to support EV recovery and transport, Honk tracks data in order to match service providers with customers. “22% of tow companies that Honk works with are experiencing 5% growth in volume while 10% of service providers say EVs are 20% of business,” said Sabbagh. “The key for us is unlocking the skills
on the network side and matching that with the concentrated demand on the consumer side.” As the EV towing and recovery business grows, so too will more towers be tasked with confronting the challenges of towing and servicing EVs.
“It’s bad enough that we have to worry about getting hit on
the side of the road. Now you have to be afraid of
electrocution.
Your winch cable is a powerline.” John Fabris of South Dakota’s Plains Towing and Recovery services Honk calls. The business is averaging five to ten EV tows monthly and is expecting much greater growth in the near future. He unequivocally maintains a need to train towers on handling EVs. He said, “It’s very important that towers know what they are doing, which is specific to each vehicle. So the biggest adjustment is making sure the operators have the right manual to follow the OEM procedures for towing these vehicles.” In the pre-manual age, operators of EVs didn’t know how to get things in neutral. Fabris said, “It has to be done through the computer otherwise it has to be skated. Most customers don’t 24 • September 2021 | Towman.com