Are Electric cars manual or automatic?

[OriginalWheelman]

1. There is one gear.
2. You put it in gear.
3. There is no clutch.

Is it still a manual with no clutch? Is it still an automatic if it doesn't shift? #HardQuestions

[frapjap]

Instatorque qutomatic!

[PapaSmurf2k3]

No clutch pedal = not a manual, no matter what the ****s with SMGs try to tell you.

[OriginalWheelman]

SMG means submachine gun to me, but maybe I play too much Counter-Strike. I tend to listen to what people with SMGs tell me.

[szh]

When "idle", a pure electric motor is not spinning. And, it does not spin till electric current is applied to the coils of the motor.

So, in theory, a clutch (and "gear") to engage a single gear is all that is needed to cause the car to move when the accelerator pedal is pressed. Strictly speaking, this clutch is not needed, but most drivers today assume that something needs to be "engaged" to make a car move, so safest to have that be present.

Plus, importantly, you need to tell the car when you want to go in reverse. Whether this done by a gear system or simply reversing the current is not something I know about ... my approach would be to keep it simple (reverse the current), but not something I know about.

I will ask though ... have contacts working for an electric car company.

Z

[Fezzik]

Its just one gear in the Tesla. It needs electricity to go forward or backward. On a hill it kind of feels like a manual since it will roll back if i take the foot off the brake. Also, when you let off the accelerator pedal it goes to regen braking which recharges the battery. Feels like engine braking in a manual.lol

[OriginalWheelman]

BTW for what it's worth Ford lists my car as a 1 speed automatic.