Electric cars that are allowed to pull a trailer are no longer a rarity. But because these fully electric models are often very heavy, you can quickly reach the maximum towing weight with a large caravan with only a B driving license. These are the solutions to go on the road legally.
By: Paul CnossenBentley previously argued in favor of stretching driving license limits, because the permitted masses of his plug-in cars would be too high for a B driving licence. That is literally a luxury problem, but you can also run into difficulties with less exclusive electric cars if you only want to go on the road with a B driving license.
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While you can pull a decent trailer with an average middle class car with a fuel engine before you exceed the permitted train weight of 3,500 kg, you will soon be able to do that with an electric car. This upper limit applies to what the combination may weigh, i.e. the sum of the maximum permitted masses of the car and trailer. If this sum is more than 3,500 kg, a B+code 96 or BE driving license is required.
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To illustrate the problem, we put three models of Volkswagen among each other.
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Volkswagen Passat Variant 1.5 TSI 110 kW/150 pk (alleen benzine)
- Maximaal toegelaten massa van de auto is 2.060 kg
- Maximaal bruto laadvermogen van de te trekken aanhangwagen binnen de grenzen van het B-rijbewijs is (3.500 kg-/-2.060 kg=) 1.440 kg
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Volkswagen Passat 1.4 TSI PHEV (benzine+elektrisch)
- Maximaal toegelaten massa van de auto is 2.270 kg
- Maximaal bruto laadvermogen van de te trekken aanhangwagen binnen de grenzen van het B-rijbewijs is (3.500 kg-/-2.270 kg=) 1.230 kg
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Volkswagen ID.4 77 kWh met 128 kW/174 pk (elektrisch)
- Maximaal toegelaten massa van de auto is 2.660 kg
- Maximaal bruto laadvermogen van de te trekken aanhangwagen binnen de grenzen van het B-rijbewijs is (3.500 kg-/-2.660=) 840 kg
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In other words: although some versions of the electric ID.4 can tow up to 1,400 kilos, in the end only 840 kilos remain if you only have a B driving licence.
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Anyone who occasionally pulls a trailer will have little difficulty with the above. But especially now that a holiday with a caravan is extremely popular, many motorists have trouble with their driving license.
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Four solutions to go out legally
- You obtain a B+code 96 driving license. You can then drive a combination with a maximum permitted payload of 4,250 kilos, regardless of the mass of the car or trailer. In practice, this driving license is hardly chosen, because the exam is the same as that of the much more extensive BE driving licence.
- You obtain the BE driving license, which allows you to tow a trailer with a maximum gross payload of 3,500 kilos. The permissible maximum mass of the towing vehicle must therefore be added to this.
- You set out with a trailer of up to 750 kilos. You can always tow this with your B driving license, even if you exceed the combined gross payload of 3,500 kilos for the car and trailer.
- You have the gross loading capacity of your car and/or trailer reduced at the RDW, so that you fall below 3,500 kilos. This seems laughable, but even the ANWB reaches it in specific cases as a solution.
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