https://jalopnik.com/this-chinese-electric-car-designed-for-...
"The various inputs of clutch and shifter work with software in the car that cause it to behave like a manual, ICE car, with shift points, simulated engine sounds, and it can even “stall” if you let off the clutch too quickly."
Thus completely negating training on a manual?
Learning how to effectively use the clutch pedal to me was like, 90% of learning to drive.
That said, as an American who prefers a manual, I'm not sure why Europe cares so much. It is a skill to learn, but it isn't that hard to learn: I've taught a few people. They have some rough starts (and avoid hills for a while), but the need to shift isn't something that affects how they drive once they get off my street.
Same in Switzerland.
At last here in Indiana, you have to provide your own car to take the driving test in.
I think I “studied” for the written test by skimming the handout brochure at school during lunch, and had no issues. The driving test was a joke; I’m very confident my 7-year-old could pass it today based only on her having driven utility vehicles (e.g., a Kubota RTV) around our family’s property and having watched us drive from the back seat.
Apparently Arkansas revised the licensing system in 2009, and now there is an “Intermediate” license for people under 18. That license is restricted from driving from 11pm to 4am (with exceptions), prohibited from using a cell phone while driving (with exceptions), and all passengers must be wearing a seat belt. If you’re married, in the military, have graduated high school (or equivalent) or have been legally emancipated you can get your full license at the age of 16 years and six months.
This discussion had me curious about how the very different licensing regimes might impact outcomes, so I looked up some statistics on motor vehicle fatalities.
US (2018):
* 12.4 per 100k residents
* 14.2 per 100k vehicles
Europe (2016)
* 9.3 per 100k residents
* 19 per 100k vehicles
Poland (2019)
* 7.7 per 100k residents
* 13.5 per 100k vehicles
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-r...
Meanwhile the cars involved in the accidents are often unimaginably small and lightweight in EU. Rolling a typical Irish car off the road must have an outcome much like rolling a golf cart would, certainly fatal to the occupants, whereas rolling a typical USA SUV into the ditch will ruin the trim and probably the glass but the occupants should be unharmed if they're wearing seatbelts.
2) I've looked M4 and M7 in Ireland on Google Maps and they have two lanes each side with separation.
3) There is plenty highways in Europe with concrete barriers and few lanes each way.
The urban density matters more than the country's population
There are no standards for "how to engage the hazard blinkers" across manufacturers so the testing process verifies that at least one time in their driving experience all drivers turned the hazard blinkers on in their private car, and maybe they helped their kids or grandkids figure it out later in life.
I've driven several manual transmission cars and its always so awkward for the first couple minutes as there is no standard "feel". EU test inspectors must provide enormous amounts of leeway during testing. Every time I've driven a new manual car the very first time I let the clutch out is always at least somewhat unexpected. So the USA testers get to use smoothness as a proxy for experience. If you let the clutch out like a guy who's never done it before, you are probably lying about the many hours of required yet otherwise unverifiable pre-testing driving experience.
So in summary it enforces safety education and proves some level of experience.
That's true, but in my experience (France), the car being driven during the exam is one of your driving school's cars, which you are probably familiar with, since a number of driving lessons are mandated before the exam.
Plus, all these cars feature dual controls as a safety measure, not only for pedals, but for blinkers, honk, etc. If the inspector touches their break pedal, you automatically fail the exam.
In my experience, no. The difference is that pass rates are at 20-30%.
What would be the issue? It's the same car you practiced in.
This is actually one of the aspects of the Leaf that most impressed/surprised me - Nissan put a lot of thought in to making it behave like an ICE car with an automatic/CV transmission.
For example, when the car is in D mode, sitting on flat ground, if you take your foot off the brake, it'll roll forward at low power. Similarly, taking your foot off the accelerator while rolling faster will apply just a little bit of regeneration.
Our car which is the Ford Power shift dual clutch system which changes pretty much seamlessly and does creep on its own.
As I see it, a manual stick EV would be pretty good in combination with a modestly-powerful drive system like what's in the Nissan Leaf, as opposed to something like a high-end Tesla (where you have enough power that shifting gears doesn't matter as much).
There's no point. The tyres can't provide that much traction. My Leaf wheelspins if I put my foot down at 0 RPM (until the traction control kicks in to moderate the torque). I assume it has no gearbox.
The Leaf is front wheel drive I believe whereas the White Zombie is rear wheel drive. That probably accounts for some of it. Maybe the WZ also has a limited slip differential and some kind of high-traction tires? I don't know; drag racing is pretty far outside my area of expertise.
(Another random anecdote about the White Zombie: according to John, he always wanted to have a transmission, but they kept breaking whenever he tried to use one, so eventually he just settled on direct drive.)
(And yes, the LEAF is FWD-only.)
Obviously the exact numbers varies a bit from engine to engine.
Dropping to lower RPM for efficiency is what happens when you're done accelerating and ease up on the pedal. That's not what people complain about with CVTs. The complaints are about behavior and sound during acceleration, not after acceleration when you are merely cruising on low power output.