Best hybrid/EV for towing

[Venisonpie]

Part of the fleet I manage are 20 Ford Rangers that need replacing. There's no pick ups available as hybrids/EV's so I was thinking about SUV's. Any suggestions? Needs to tow 3.5t.

[InitialDave]

I think only the Defender.

If you need 3.5T towing capacity, I think you'd be better to look at regular diesels rather than hybrids.

[sjg]

Model X will do 2270kg.

PHEVs - lots of the larger SUVs will do 2500+, the Cayenne and Defender will do the full 3500kg.

[Venisonpie]

Thanks, I looked at the Defender. Even with the MHEV engine it's a higher CO2 rating than a diesel Hilux which would defeat the exercise as well as increase the cap cost.

[InitialDave]

In your position, I'd evaluate how many of the fleet definitely need to tow, and get pickups to replace those, with smaller hybrids to replace the others.

While every one of them might tow occasionally, if you've never had more than 5 of them towing at once, could you get away with 6 that have the capacity, and swap them around to fit the task at hand?

[Venisonpie]

InitialDave said:

In your position, I'd evaluate how many of the fleet definitely need to tow, and get pickups to replace those, with smaller hybrids to replace the others.

While every one of them might tow occasionally, if you've never had more than 5 of them towing at once, could you get away with 6 that have the capacity, and swap them around to fit the task at hand?

Yeah, agreed. Unfortunately they don't all operate in the same location, they're spread between North Beds to the South Coast and need to be able to respond rapidly to situations (they support rail infrastructure and need to tow equipment lineside with non paved access).

If the Defender was a lower CO2 rating I could make a case for it. I can see there are manufacturers who will fill this gap but not for several years.

Edited by Venisonpie on Tuesday 5th October 14:26