Tesla adds camper-friendly tow pack to Model Y

Scott Morrison once infamously quipped an electric car wouldn’t tow a recreational vehicle. However, electric car disruptor Tesla last week proved the former prime minister’s claim wrong, launching a factory-fitted towbar option for its Australian-delivered Model Y compact luxury crossovers – at a boat show.

The new $1970 option introduced at last week’s Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show on the Gold Coast can be ticked when ordering a new Tesla Model Y, or retrofitted to existing versions of the compact SUV-styled crossover.

The box-fresh towbar is rated at 750kg unbraked – making the Tesla Model Y perfect for towing a teardrop camper or a couple of jet skis – or up to 1600kg braked with a 160kg maximum towball weight, meaning it will also pull a decent-sized camper trailer, trailer boat or even a lightweight caravan behind it.

Tesla customer service and support specialist Bruce Travers said Model Y customers who bought the vehicle before the towbar was launched could visit their local Tesla service centre and have it fitted.

“We've had a lot of people actually purchasing [Model Y] Teslas before we could get them installed knowing we would get them with that expectation that you will be able to tow with them,” Travers said.

The new towbar also comes with a software tweak to install Tesla’s special tow mode into the car’s electronic brains. The software disables some of the Model Y’s functions if a trailer is plugged into the vehicle to ensure the driver is always in control of both the vehicle and the trailer.

“There is a towing mode that the cars go into as well because Teslas have a lot of autopilot functions, and if you do use those you can't use full autopilot when it's towing,” Travers said. 

“You still need to be driving.” 

While that means drivers won’t be able to use some of the Level 3 autonomy functions that come close to making the Model Y a fully autonomous car, the software will allow Level 2 autonomous functions such as adaptive cruise control that will automatically keep the Model Y a set distance from the vehicle in front. 

Model Y owners who want to fit their Tesla with a towbar can book an installation appointment via the vehicle’s app.

The kit comes with a towbar, 2.0-inch hitch receiver, the towing software and a trailer harness.