DD learning to drive - EV or petrol automatic?

[Sausagescanfly]

I need to get a new (to me) car that DD will be able to practise driving in while she learns. She will also get lessons, I assume in a petrol automatic. Has anyone been in this position and got themselves an EV? I'm trying to work out whether switching between an instructor's petrol and my EV would be a problem and I actually need to also get a petrol car. Thanks

Interesting. I’ve drive autos for years but I was looking at a car rental for Spain the other week and all the cheapest ones were manuals.
I can’t see it being a huge difference between a petrol and EV. Neither use gears so I’d suspect it’s like any car where the buttons and stuff are different.

There's no real difference between driving an EV and a petrol automatic. Differences are going to be more down to individual models than fuel type because there's no changing gears to consider on either.

We hire cars in Europe at least once a year, I don't think I've been given a manual in the last decade. Ten years ago I'd say being able to drive a manual would have tangible benefits. I don't think that holds true anymore.

I learned to drive in a petrol automatic 30 years ago and have never had a problem with being able to hire a car or have a loan car when mine are serviced. There are also plenty of second hand automatics.

What I would say is that ev's don't feel like normal automatics to drive ,they start and stop in a horrible jerky way like a dodgem. I intend to buy the last petrol automatic that rolls off the production line, that will be my last car!

I passed in an automatic car, so have a full auto only license, but its never stopped me from hiring another car. You could also consider a self charging hybrid that is automatic too. I don't think it'll ever be a barrier to her in the future. My sister passed in a manual, but she has driven an automatic Jimny for years now.

Automatic insurance is a lot more expensive than manual.

I think learning manual is essential.
But if you only want to do automatic then I don’t think auto or EV will make any difference.

It's not rubbish to say you have more choice if you can drive a manual. DH has had a few people come to him who passed in an automatic and now need a manual licence so have to start again with lessons and retake a test. It's great it has worked for you but for some its an unecessary expense

might be because they needed a manual licence for a driving job? that's the only reason I can think of.

My experience of 35 years of auto ownership is that it makes zero difference.

Whilst it is true that driving an EV and an automatic are pretty much the same, I don’t know that I’d want my DC learning on one.

EVs are very quick on acceleration and I would worry about my DC having that much power underfoot while they were so inexperienced.

If your DH has only taught “a few” people who needed to upgrade from auto to manual, it’s not exactly a massive amount of people in that situation is it?

And they’re not really “starting again with lessons” though, are they? The gears are a very small part of learning to drive, surely they pick them up after a couple of lessons, so it’s hardly a massive expense.

The “unnecessary expense” is surely spending the extra money to learn in a manual (as it takes more lessons) originally, as most people will never need to drive manual? You can’t say it’s an unnecessary expense to take a cheaper route and maybe add on a few extra lessons, rather than do the more expensive route in the first place.

Have you looked into the cost of insurance? DD learned to drive on DH manual car as we couldn't get insurance on my EV, well we could but it would have been ridiculously expensive. And that was learner insurance once she had passed my insurance company wouldn't even insure her. I'm sure someone would have but again it would have been very expensive.

Learner insurance is normally cheaper then when they have passed. Once she had passed we bought an old car for her to drive as even insurance on DH's car was ridiculously expensive around £2,000.

You don’t need to always drive an EV if you learn in an EV car 😂

I have an automatic license. Absolutely no issue with getting by.

To answer your actual question OP, depending on what range EV you buy and if you’ll charge at home of course, I find that mine lasted a week on one charge (used every day for school drop offs, supermarket trips, station pick ups) and now we upgraded to a car with 250 miles it lasts two weeks. Just checked my charger app and it cost me £16 last weekend to charge fully from near enough 0. For us the price to run the car is less than it takes to take a breath in London these days.

Dd passed her test in a petrol manual. Within her first year of having a licence she had driven manuals, automatics, hybrids and evs for work.
She says best to learn in a manual then all bases are covered.

I passed my test in an auto 20 years ago. It has never caused me any issues not being able to drive a manual!

I've hired cars all over the world. Also had to drive for 2 jobs, one just got me an automatic company car, the other gave me a car allowance instead.

DH now has an EV and I don't really notice any difference between the two.

I wouldn't stress about it. The auto I did my lessons in was slightly different to my dad's auto that I practised in but it didn't really hinder me. If anything, it will serve her well having experience of driving slightly different cars.

I have a friend that did lessons in a car with a reversing camera. Her instructor taught her to turn the wheel left when the line on the screen is green then right when it's red or something like that. She got a shock when she bought her own car and had no idea to reverse park!

We're in a similar position with our DS, he's learning in an automatic. Ev's seem to be in a higher insurance group to petrol cars and, if its a car that your DD is going to drive after she's passed her test, you might want to think about the insurance group.

For practising while she has driving lessons, I'm not sure it really matters a whole lot. DS is learning to drive in an electric car but practising in a petrol as we couldn't get him insured on our electric car.

You can pass your test in an automatic and the take further lessons in a manual!

Just because you pass in a manual doesn't mean you can't "upgrade" in a few years.

I’m not really sure why you think theres such a difference? They’re both just automatic cars that are fueled differently. I drove both regularly and there is basically no difference.

id go for manual. I’ve had jobs where I’ve been expected to drive and the only car’s available are manuals. My colleague only had an auto licence and it really restricted her. You never know what you’ll need to hop in so best to be ready for all

Are you sure you quoted this right post, as this makes no sense in response to my post... I definitely never said anyone passing a test in an EV could only ever drive an EV?

Much better to get a proper manual licence otherwise it causes so many restrictions in the future. DD1 passed in the last two years and went the manual route and can drive everything, her friend only had an automatic licence and when they were on their electives abroad the hiring of an auto was nearly twice as much.

How can you "upgrade" if you pass in a manual?

I learnt in an EV and then bought a petrol automatic. Personal experience is that I don't think it makes much difference.

one of my kids had to learn in an automatic due to being a wheelchair user and passed in an Ev the only difference they notice when driving a petrol automatic was that you need to brake more actively as the Ev had regen braking

My daughter learned and practiced in my Zoe and when she passed we bought her a Micra automatic and she’s been just fine switching between them.

For a while now I've driven a diesel automatic. Before this I always drove petrol manuals and in my experience fuel type doesn't make any difference in ease of driving. My DP used to have an EV. There was absolutely no difference between my diesel automatic and his purely EV except for the fact he had a start button and his vehicle was smaller and lighter so I had to be a bit lighter on the brakes.
ETA you can, if you're so inclined get very technical and precise about driving/braking in an EV to max your efficiency, which you would not in any other automatic vehicle, so that's another difference.