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Automakers can’t quit manual transmissions so they’re cramming fake stuff into EVs
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2023
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Technology
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Before I got my EV, all my vehicles were manual transmission vehicles except for one truck. That truck's transmission was such a piece of shit and I had to have it rebuilt 2x while I owned it.
EVs have no transmission (well, I've seen some conversions that do but that's a little different). At first I thought it would be like driving an automatic but it's really not.
In an automatic, the transmission starts pushing you forward as soon as you let off the brake. In a manual and EVs, when you take your foot off the brake, nothing happens.
In an automatic, there's not really a good way to decelerate without pressing on the brake. In a manual you can downshift (I know you can kindof downshift in an automatic but it's really not the same) and in an EV you have the regenerative braking.
Accelerating in an EV is just better than anything because it's just smooth acceleration right to wherever speed you are going to. Manuals can be fun to shift but I would say that EVs are better in this regard. Automatics still shift, they just shift for you and will often do it at the wrong times and can sometimes feel jerky if trying to accelerate quickly.
Really I think some people are just hesitant to adopt something new, especially if they feel like it's being forced upon them as some sort of agenda. I think as they drop in price and more people try them, they will like them. Then there's just the issue of range. I think if someone could get a $20-30k car with 300+mi range, it would be super popular.
That depends on the car's software - my mother's Renault Zoe slowly accelerates to about 5 km/h if you take your foot off the brake.
My Volt and Mach-e also will creep. In the mach-e it's an option, same as 1 pedal driving. The cool thing about EV's is being able to change the behavior with options to suit your preferences.
I had never heard of one pedal driving until you mentioned it here. After reading about it that sounds like a pretty interesting feature. Do you get to use it very often or is it pretty niche?
I think it's really cool feature for two use cases:
But I tend to drive a lot on streets with stoplights. And after having a couple real rough stops when the lights turned yellow right before my go/no-go line, I turned it back off. I just couldn't get used to the abrupt force of the brakes in that mode. I'm sure you could get used to it though, and I might enable it on the freeway for road trips.
I use it all the time in urban settings with my Chevy Bolt. It will slow to a complete stop and there's a paddle on the steering wheel I can use to engage it if I'm not in one pedal mode, or make the Regen braking more aggressive if I am.
My fiat is the same...they really made the transition from ICE to EV extremely minimal, everything feels/act the same.
The thing that gets me is without gears shifting as you accelerate you don't instinctively know how fast you're actually going...I feel like if you've been driving long enough your brain already has some map built in.. like the back of your brain is keeping track and the car shifted 3 times so you're probably going around x speed. I pull away from a light and can't help punching it a little bit but by the time I let off and look down I'm going 58 in a 35!
I don't want to sound like one of those super EV fan boys and I've only had mine for 3ish months...but once you drive an EV for a while you start to wonder why haven't cars always been like this? It makes so much more sense this way! I learned to drive on a manual and always got my cars with manuals so I do miss the engagement/connection to the driving experience but honestly EV is sooo much better (except down shifting into a turn)
I saw one recently account starting 35k, with federal rebate making effectively 27.5k and has 260 range. It's getting there at least.
The Taycan has a two speed transmission (for forward gears) but your point still stands for most other EVs.