RACT (TAS) Roadside Assistance for EV Owners

Honest answer first: RACT doesn’t publish EV-specific roadside assistance terms, and as of mid-2026 its roadside pages don’t mention electric vehicles at all, in either direction. There’s no advertised exclusion, and the bread-and-butter services (12V jump starts, tyre changes, lockouts, towing) apply to any registered car. But unlike every mainland club, Tasmania’s RACT makes no public promises about EV callouts, mobile charging or tow-to-charger policies. If you own an EV, the practical position is: RACT will almost certainly attend your breakdown, an out-of-charge battery will almost certainly mean a tow, and you should confirm the details with RACT directly before relying on them.

RACT is the club for Tasmania, so this page is for EV drivers in Hobart, Launceston, Devonport and everywhere on the island in between.

What do RACT’s plans cost, and what do you get?

RACT keeps it simple with two main personal tiers, plus family and group options that discount additional members. As of mid-2026:

Both include flat battery help, tyre changes, lockout assistance and fuel assistance (Ultimate includes up to 10 litres free for petrol cars; Advantage sells it to you). Ultimate adds extras like locksmith cover, passenger transport after a tow, a second tow, and up to $5,000 in annual benefits. Current pricing is on RACT’s roadside page.

Notice what’s missing from that list for EV owners: any equivalent of the fuel top-up. That’s not an RACT quirk, it’s physics and economics, but mainland clubs have started filling the gap with charge top-up trucks (RACQ, NRMA, AANT) or generous out-of-charge towing (RACV’s 200 km). RACT advertises neither.

What actually happens if your EV runs out of charge in Tasmania?

Plan for a tow. The Tasmanian government’s own EV guidance through ReCFIT is blunt about it: roadside assistance providers may not support on-road charging, so a car with a flat traction battery will need to be towed to a charger.

That makes towing distance the single most important number in your RACT plan. Advantage’s 15 km metro and 32 km country limits are tight for an island where fast chargers cluster in Hobart, Launceston and along the Midland Highway, with real gaps on the west coast and in the south east. Run flat near Queenstown or on the Tasman Peninsula and 32 km may not reach a DC charger. Ultimate’s unlimited towing removes that maths entirely, which is why it’s the sensible default for Tasmanian EV owners despite costing about $111 a year more.

The everyday failures are less dramatic. The most common EV callout is the same as a petrol car: a flat 12V battery, which a patrol jump-starts at the roadside. Tyres, lockouts and tow-after-collision all work normally too.

If you want certainty before you join, three questions to put to RACT in writing will settle it: Is my battery electric vehicle covered on this plan with no exclusions? Is an out-of-charge callout treated as a standard breakdown, and will you tow me to a charging station rather than only a depot? And do your contracted tow operators in my area run flatbeds, since most EV manufacturers require flatbed transport to protect the motors and battery? Clear answers to those three turn an unadvertised policy into a known one.

What’s the charging backdrop in Tasmania?

Better than most mainlanders assume, with caveats. Most public chargers in Tasmania run on the Chargefox network, seeded by the Electric Highway Tasmania project, with sites spread across the island. Evie Networks operates chargers at Campbell Town, Westbury, Brighton and Kingston, and there’s a Tesla Supercharger at Devonport (historically Tesla-only). PlugShare remains the most current map of what’s live.

Tasmania’s compact size works in your favour: no two major towns are far apart by mainland standards, and the Midland Highway spine between Hobart and Launceston is well covered. The risk zones are the west coast and the far south, where chargers thin out and where Advantage’s 32 km tow limit deserves respect.

How does RACT compare for EV owners?

Within Tasmania, RACT is effectively the only club option; the alternatives are insurer roadside add-ons (which mostly say even less about EVs) and manufacturer programs that tow you to a dealer. RACT’s weakness isn’t its service, which Tasmanians generally rate; it’s the silence. Every mainland club now states its EV position publicly. RACT, as of mid-2026, doesn’t, which leaves owners to ask the questions themselves: Is my EV covered on this plan? Is an out-of-charge callout treated as a breakdown? Will you tow me to a charger or a depot?

Our best roadside assistance for EV owners guide compares RACT’s plans with the mainland clubs and other options, and the complete guide to EV roadside assistance in Australia explains the full breakdown-and-rescue picture for EV owners nationally.

The verdict for Tasmanian EV drivers

Join RACT if you want club-grade roadside help in Tasmania, but go in with clear eyes. Choose Ultimate for the unlimited towing unless you genuinely never leave Hobart or Launceston, ask RACT to confirm in writing how it handles out-of-charge EV callouts, and keep your charging cables in the car. Pricing and plan details here are accurate as of mid-2026; check RACT’s site for current figures.