In recent times the sales of electric vehicles in the UK have taken a sharp rise. In 2015 less than 10,000 fully electric cars were sold. In 2021, 190,000 electric cars were sold (in the UK) – an increase of over 1500%. One question that should be in the forefront of new learner’s minds is weather you should embrace the inevitable future now and learn to drive an electric vehicle or at least an automatic car now, as going forward everything will have an automatic gearbox. Or cling on the past and drive a manual car.
GM: The advantages of learning in an automatic car will become immediately apparent as soon as you start driving. Not having a gearbox or a clutch pedal to think about enables you to spend more time focusing on driving the car. This can help you to immediately become a safer driver as both hands can be always on the steering wheel. In some cases when driving a manual, taking your hands off the wheel can cause you to lose control of the car and begin to swerve especially when just starting out driving. Not having to focus on using a clutch pedal means you have less to think about when slowing down increasing your anticipation of other road users because you only must use one pedal at once. An electric car helps to eliminate unnecessary pedal applications even more and most electric cars have an optional setting that means the car will slow itself down when you lift off the accelerator by using regenerative breaking to recharge the battery. In stop-and-go traffic you rarely need to touch the brake pedal.
LP: Yes, driving a manual is much more involving but the difficulty of changing gear, finding the bite point and putting some revs in the engine it forces you to concentrate. For example, I was driving up Pot Bank and was about to change from third gear into second. I lifted my left hand off the wheel and knocked the gearbox into first by accident, causing my eyes to go down to the gearbox and when I looked up again, I was straddling two lanes with oncoming cars swerving like rearing horses. However, by experiencing this death defying, outer body incident I, from then on, had messianic concentration on the road. Whereas with only break and acceleration the soft lull of the engine sings one into complacency andthere is, in fact, a significantly greater amount of fatal road traffic accidents (in head collisions) with an automatic transmission system than there is with a manual.
GM: Even though the statistics of automatics having a higher fatality rate is correct, that is mainly due to the majority of automatic cars being sold in America, where the roads are bigger and faster putting you in more dangerous situations. Automatics also present a wide range of benefits, such as the worry of hill starts, which is non-existent in an automatic car, as they do not roll back when you lift off the brake pedal if you are relatively fast to put your foot back on the accelerator with no need to hold the car on the handbrake and build up revs. A lot of cars now including nearly all EVs have an auto-hold function meaning on a slope the car will not roll back, no matter if no pedals are pressed. This reduces stress and means there is never a risk of stalling when pulling out on to a main road. Not having to go through any gears when accelerating also helps when joining a 60-limit road from a stop as you can get up to those higher speeds much faster, especially in an electric car which are known for a large amount of torque and instant power.
LM: Do you want to feel like Steve McQueen? Or perhaps Paul Newman? Then drive manual. There is no greater pleasure in life than changing gear smoothly, than having the synaptic movements of one’s hand in perfect order. When you can drive a manual well, a Fiat Panda becomes a Ford Mustang, a Corsa becomes a Cadillac, a Fiesta a Ferrari. With an automatic, there is only brutal realism.
Also, if you consider yourself pragmatic avoid learning in an automatic because learners who learn solely learn in a automatic cannot drive a manual. So, say goodbye to your idealistic dreams of driving a Red 1969 Tempest convertible along the Amalfi Coast or of driving your Morris Minor along the country roads of North Yorkshire. Manual drivers can buy and drive what they like.
GM: Although there are many classic car alternatives that do offer an automatic option like a Ferrari 456 GTA or a Porsche 944 auto. For a modern-day driver these will be much more pleasant to drive than any manual car from the era that will snap your wrist with a stiff gearbox and wear out your legs with a clutch that feels like you are pushing an elephant on the other side. With all this being said non of these cars will be as good a modern electric car to drive in reality as they will all be noisy and smelly by our current standards. This is combined with them being better for the environment as there are no tailpipe emissions. This is much better for the densely populated areas like city centres. Even if you do not charge your electric car from 100% green sources the efficiency of an electric motor means it produces a third of emissions of a petrol or diesel cars. To begin with the only reason why gearboxes existed in the first places was to work around the inconsistent and non-liner power band of an internal combustion engine. The only reason why manual geared cars exist is because when cars first came around, we did not have the ability or facility to make good automatic cars. By around 2000 we had improved gearboxes to the point where they were smoother, faster and more efficient than manuals. The only reason why after this point manuals still existed is they were a few hundred pounds cheaper for the manufacture to build. Also, people were used to manuals, and did not want to change. Even though automatics were better at this point they had earned a bad reputation in the 1970s-80s where they had very few gears, and they seemed to never be able to be in the right one. The problem with making them more popular is that people simply are not aware of the advantages they now present, and with the ban of the sale of new internal combustion cars by 2030, all cars sold after this point will have to be automatic as electric cars have no need for a gearbox.
LP: But even though you can buy a current electric car instead of a petrol car it will still be out of date in a few years time as battery and electric motor efficiency is rapidly increasing in recent years. This will leave a current electric car that you buy these days quickly outdated having low ranges and efficiency. Also electric car batteries have many different chemicals in them due to being lithium ion cells. This means electric car batteries are very difficult to dispose of and recycle. This is one of the largest downsides of current electric cars and there technology. Newer electric cars are beginning to use LFP batteries that have better longevity and less chemicals and toxic metals like cobalt.
GM: Overall, the decision to learn to drive a manual or automatic car is down to personal preferences and automatic is always going to be easier but it does limit your ability to drive all cars – this could prove difficult when you go on holiday and are renting a car or if you are wanting to buy a classic car. However moving into the future, they will only be electric cars on sale meaning most cars will be automatic. This means they will have to change the rules to allow you to drive a manual on an automatic licence. Just like they have done in America where all reasonable cars to learn on are automatic. The only reason to learn in a manual is if you think it will be useful for your situation. Manual cars are also cheaper to purchase. Though automatics do offer an easier driving experience with less stress so if having ones works for you. Having an EV, if it is possible for you will also be the most sustainable alternative. Automatics are fundamentally better cars so if you can get one.