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| Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3753  
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Pure electrics don’t have a gear box in the conventional sense - just fowards, neutral/park and backwards - my Countryman PHEV has a 6 speed auto for the petrol engine at the front and the electric motor is reversible and drives the rear wheels only, I have only the one auto selector for the two engines....... and it will operate the reverse in purely electric mode so no need to get out and push it backwards
 So in theory an EV is even easier to drive than an auto. Also in the few EVs with what look like “paddle shifters” behind the steering wheel those levers are usually for adjusting the amount of regeneration you want to have.
Regarding licences I would imagine that if you learn to drive in an EV then you get an auto only licence as the technique is similar - do we have any driving instructors on the forum who could answer this? Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed! |
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3rd Apr 2020 9:42am |
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| excossack Member Since: 22 Feb 2012 Location: North West Posts: 5855  
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I have only driven one electric vehicle - a Berlingo van. P/N/D/R options - so an auto.
Be interested to hear views from any DI's on the forum 1999 Defender TD5 110 Regards John M0VAZ Econet Station 48 no clock |
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3rd Apr 2020 9:50am |
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| discomog Member Since: 09 May 2015 Location: Notts/Lincs Border Posts: 2531 
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According to Paul Tomlin of Green Driving School in Stoke on Trent he has been using EV's since 2011. All of his students take the Automatic Test. Defender 90XS SW
Mini Countryman Cooper S Morgan Plus 8 |
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3rd Apr 2020 10:47am |
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| excossack Member Since: 22 Feb 2012 Location: North West Posts: 5855
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Is that due to only having an automatic licence? 1999 Defender TD5 110
Regards John M0VAZ Econet Station 48 no clock |
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3rd Apr 2020 10:54am |
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| Daisy90 Member Since: 01 Feb 2015 Location: Hampshire Posts: 845 
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What happens to driving tests, if / when these fully autominous ( spelt like it sounds ) vehicles are the norm ?
Will the test compromise, of programming the vehicle on where to go, and what to do if it all goes wrong ? Or could you just send the car along on it’s own to pick up the examiner for a drive  |
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3rd Apr 2020 3:49pm |
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| Bluest Member Since: 23 Apr 2016 Location: Lancashire Posts: 4218 
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This is going more than a little OT but its an interesting subject to me... I think there are some real legal conundrums to overcome with fully autonomous vehicles. Possibly as hard as the technical challenge of making them work in the first place. As mentioned, will you need a license? Who is liable if it crashes and how should the machines be programmed to handle moral dilemmas?
Take this example: It's 2040. You are being transported down the local high street by your brand new fully autonomous mobility pod. In an instant a small child leaps in front of the vehicle. Your pod detects what's happening and computes that the child can be saved by a sharp swerve to the left or right. Going left would strike a young married couple, going right would strike 5 pensioners leaving the bingo. Also the pod could activate instant self destruct, killing you but saving all the pedestrians. What should it do? At some point during the design of autonomous vehicles the makers will have to decide how the machine handles very serious situations like this. Fortunately, I think we are 20 to 30 years from autonomy being at the point where driver relinquishes all control to the machines. 2007 110 TDCi Station Wagon XS |
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3rd Apr 2020 4:10pm |
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| VVS210 Member Since: 12 Nov 2016 Location: Hampshire Posts: 953
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From the DVLA website:
Manual and automatic cars You can take the test in a: •manual car - these have 3 pedals •automatic or semi-automatic car - these have 2 pedals If you take your test in a semi-automatic car you’ll only be able to drive automatic and semi-automatic cars once you’ve passed your test. It seems that the key is whether the car you take the test in has 2 or 3 pedals rather than whether it is electric/hybrid/internal combustion engine. |
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3rd Apr 2020 4:32pm |
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