Towing with a Kia EV5
We'd ordered a towbar to be fitted to our new Kia EV. But given it's only the base model what is the experience trying to tow a trailer?
Our previous car had a towbar, and we own a trailer. So when we were ordering our new Kia EV5 I enquired about getting a towbar fitted. The only slight hitch (pun intended) was that when the car was ready to pick up, the dealer apologised that the towbar was still on backorder and they’d let me know when it came in. It was probably a couple of months later when they called back to say it had arrived. I organised that it was fitted when the car went in for its first scheduled service.
The towing specifications for the Kia EV5 (from the 2026 model brochure) are as follows:
| Towing Capacity | Air 2WD SR | Air 2WD LR, Earth AWD LR, GT-Line AWD LR |
|---|---|---|
| Towing Capacity Unbraked (Kg) | 300 | 750 |
| Towing Capacity Braked (Kg) | 300 | 1,250 |
| Max. Towball Download (Kg) | 50 | 100 |
We have the base model - an Air 2WD SR, so it is rated to tow but has the lowest capacity. As I understand it, the main reason for the other models having higher capacity is down to the extra weight (and power) of the batteries that those models come with.
I don’t need to tow anything like a caravan or a boat. Our trailer is just a standard “6x4” - quite handy for getting a load of mulch for the garden, or transporting something that’s too big to fit in the car.
Even so, I was wondering how the EV5 would go even just towing a regular trailer with a light load. Would it struggle? Would it turn out that the only thing we could use it for is a bike rack? I was keen to find out.
The towing experience
When you attach a trailer to the EV5, it displays a notification on the infotainment display:
The checklist is just that - a list of steps that you should be aware of when preparing to tow something with the car. You can step through it, or just ignore it. It’s just informational.
The other interesting thing is that the car essentially switches to “towing” mode. You can tell this because a new icon appears on the driver’s dashboard:
It also automatically reduces the estimated range. Notice that my battery is charged at 100%, and yet the range shows as 321km (without the trailer our EV5 would show a range of ~460km when fully charged).
That’s a bit of a surprise at first - where did all our power go? Well nowhere. It’s still there (and if you disconnected the trailer it would jump back up to the normal number). But it makes sense - the car knows it has to pull some extra weight, and that will draw down on the batteries, and use up the charge at a faster rate. (It defaults to an automatic ratio, but you can override this in the Settings menu if you want to).
But how much impact would it have? That was what I was unsure about.
The very first time I hooked up our trailer to the car and took it for a test drive around the block, the car started dinging and these alerts kept appearing warning me that the trailer’s turning signal lights weren’t working! I’d checked the lights before departing so that was a surprise. I got out a wire brush and gave the trailer’s electrical plug (and the adapter) a good clean, hoping that removing dust and cobwebs might do the trick. Pleasingly it did. That’s a nice feature that the car is monitoring the lighting circuits to the trailer and letting you know if it thinks there’s a problem.
The next day we towed a load of furniture wit our trailer and had to drive up a longish hill. That was interesting, as while the car handled the load well, it was obviously using more power to do so - you could literally see the range reducing every few seconds. Fortunately once at the top of the hill the road evened out, and so did the electricity consumption. Once you’re on the flat then it doesn’t use much extra to pull the trailer along at all - momentum is a good thing sometimes.
Going back down the same hill was the opposite - the regenerative breaking was working overtime as now the car had the trailer pushing it slightly from behind (not that you’ll ever generate more power than you use).
In the end I became comfortable that we could do a few trips up and down the hill and we’d still have plenty of capacity to get home.
Sensors
One other difference when the car goes into “towing” mode is that it disables a number of the sensors that you normally benefit from. The systems that warn you about cars passing you either side are disabled - presumably because otherwise they’d get confused by this trailer that’s following close behind you.
Likewise the reversing sensor (obviously) is also disabled. So you just need to be a little more alert when driving - some of those safety systems that you’re used to won’t be active.
Conclusion
While at first I was wondering whether the Kia EV5 base model would be able to tow anything at all, the good news is that yes it can, and does just fine.
