4 ms·

It’s actually really dangerous and generally illegal to tow a vehicle with a simple, easily stored strap.

• throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  It's more dangerous than sitting in an air conditioned office and posting on HN but if you're not trying to keep up with stop and go traffic it's not substantially worse than flat towing. You have to drive like a responsible adult and trust your buddy to do the same but that kind of goes without saying for any situation where you're moving double or more the weight you usually do.
  • lostapathy 5y ago
    This is really terrible advice. It's super dangerous, especially at highway speeds (i.e., fast enough to charge a tesla). Granted, leaning on the brake regen makes pulling a tesla a little less dangerous than pulling a gas car around at speed. There's a reason this is illegal most places. It's also, generally, pretty hard on both vehicles to tow on a non-rigid connection because there's a lot of shock transmitted between vehicles whether the rope goes slack.
    • throwaway0a5e 5y ago
      You don't need to go 70mph to regen a Tesla. They went fast in the article in order to get the wattage up to an impressive article-worthy number. 20mph would work but more slowly. There shouldn't be much if any shock loading because the towed vehicle will be on the brakes the whole time. Obviously some good judgement is advised. Roads with hairpin turns or the shoulder of a major urban interstate is not the place for this. Obviously a tow bar would be better than a rope but nobody winds up in a situation where they need to regen tow a vehicle because of an abundance of alternative good options. I guess I was a little too generous to HN when I assumed I didn't need to include a bunch of "be reasonable about it" disclaimers in my original comment.