Doesn’t seem to be behind paywall, but here’s the article just in case:
Instead of lessons on operating a manual gearbox, motoring school pupils will be taught to conserve their battery and drive with one pedal
Young drivers increasingly no longer need to learn how to change gear ahead of the coming revolution in electric cars, the President of the AA has said.
Edmund King said younger learners were already choosing “simpler” lessons in automatic cars because new petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned from the roads in 2030.
In the New Year, the largest driving school in the country will roll out electric car driving lessons nationally for the first time.
Rather than learning how and when to change gear, pupils at the AA-owned British School of Motoring will be taught to conserve their battery and drive with one pedal.
‘A car revolution is coming’
Mr King, who drives an electric car himself, told the Telegraph: “The world of cars is changing. A revolution is coming. I think younger people are beginning to realise that 2030 is really not very far away.
“There is increasingly an acknowledgement that you do not necessarily need to learn how to change gear. In the very near future, you will only need to drive an automatic, because all EVs are automatic.
“Obviously, it is much harder to learn on a stickshift, because the most difficult thing to gather is clutch control. That takes up the first five lessons.”
Drivers taking tests in automatic cars more than triples
After a successful trial last year, and discussions with the Government, the BSM and AA Driving School are to give instructors the option of leasing an electric car as part of their franchise.
The proportion of learner drivers taking their test in an automatic rather than a manual car has already more than tripled since 2008, according to analysis of data from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.
In 2008, only 3.8 per cent of tests were taken in an automatic vehicle, but by last year that had grown to 13.8 per cent.
Edmund King said the increase was down to learners preparing for an EV future.
He said: “The increase in automatic tests probably isn’t due to a massive increase in EVs yet but the presumption that in the future everyone will drive EVs so why not take an easier test now to prepare for the future.
“There is still a reluctance among young people to actually buy an EV because they are quite pricey and the insurance costs a lot too.”
Despite gears being considered one of the most challenging elements for new drivers, the pass rate in an automatic is lower than the average, at 39.5 per cent in 2019, compared to 45.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, driving tests could be changed to adjust to electric cars with lessons on choosing an appropriate gear replaced by how to get the most from your battery.
Drivers who take their test in an automatic car could also be allowed to use it for manual systems, to ensure they can still drive older and classic cars.
DVSA’s Deputy Chief Driving Examiner Gordon Witherspoon, said: “We constantly review tests for all vehicle types to take account of changes in technology, driving habits, regulations and highway infrastructure – as well as to respond to accident trends.
“We have already started work to look at the impact of electric vehicles on driver and rider education and assessment and to plan for any changes that this shift in vehicle type and use will need.”
This will become inevitable over time, just like “steer clear of learning how to crank your engine from the handle at the front or use the choke to regulate the richness of the fuel mix” has become a thing.
Whilst things are changing, and EV’s will dominate in the future, that future is a long way off, and almost all of these new drivers are going to be driving older, manual ICE cars.
It’s going to be years and years before everything moves over to full auto only, you might have an auto car but what if you need to rent a van, or you need to drive a works car/van/landrover/pickup for something, what if you think in 10-30+ years time you might want to buy a classic car but there’s no way to do manual licences anymore.
i.e it’s a dum move.
This is really poor advice, even if you believe the EV hype. Most of the cars on the market, particularly used ones, are going to be manual. If you hire a car, particularly from a cheap provider, it’s likely to be a manual ICE. If you need to borrow a mate’s car/van/pickup for a larger load, it might well be. If you learn and get a licence that includes manual gears, you will be able to use all of these options, in addition to EVs.
Currently learning to drive.
Finding an instructor was hard.
It’s manual or nothing round here
If you learn to drive manual your covered for all events. Cheap first cars will not br eletrics for a good while, they are too expensive.
Its alot easier to convert to auto than other way round.
Until their fully dominent its probably good idea to least know how to use mannual gears.
Least then youl never br caught out.
Its difference between being stuck and a lap tound car park, quiet road to get used to auto and off you go.
(if you ever hire car etc, doing a few minute to get feel of car is probbly good advice as standard.)
I did my lessons and test in an automatic and not only have i never had a problem finding cars to buy I’ve had even less issue finding hire cars.
Changing gears and clutch management is dumb and now that the auto tech in petrol cars has been perfected from the dark days of the 1970s, excepting classic car enthusiasts, there’s little reason to stick with manual except for this british top gear lad driver bullshit that everyone’s a boy racer at heart. It’s an administrative mechanical task that has largely been solved.
And that’s before you get to the onset of electric vehicles.
Germany has already changed their training system so that after passing your test in an automatic car, you can ‘upgrade’ to manual by having some lessons with a driving instructor if you find out you later need that capability. I guess more countries will follow suit as fully manual transmissions move away from the norm towards being something only specialists and enthusiasts have to deal with.
Wish I could have learnt to drive in an automatic. Passed my test without ever understanding how manuals work, I don’t really get gears or when I should change. Dunno how to not stall when moving from a stop either. It’s a big reason I got too anxious to drive and just quit about 10 years ago, shortly after passing my test.
I know I should have powered through or got more lessons but my instructor got done for touching up the teenagers so didn’t have the best experience learning in general!
32 and currently learning to drive after putting it off for years. Learning manual as it makes sense to cover all bases. We have a manual car at the moment which I’ll be driving but looking forward to having the money to go electric and go automatic.
Around here it’s apparently difficult to find an instructor that teaches automatic anyway.
I’ve never even driven an automatic. I don’t know how to
Or you can have a manual license and then either buy an EV or an automatic and still be able to hire cars/vans. Drive work vans etc.
Fuck me that’s some shitty advice.
I learnt auto for medical reasons, never looked back. I understand the arguments for manual, I just haven’t come across any, all nice hire cars are auto, all decent comfy cars are auto, all really fast cars are auto, all new cars are auto. So unless you want a classic or a shitbox, it’s probably better in auto.
Fuck off Telegraph with your clickbait headline.
Nowhere in the article does it state that people are being told to steer clear. Simply that more people are learning using automatics, as automatics become more popular. What a fucking surprise.
Since apparently more cars are shifting from manual to automatic, a question for anyone here who’s gone from driving manual to automatic – how did you find the transition?
I’ve only ever driven manual and worry about not knowing what to do in an automatic.
How stupid advice. Imagine you travel abroad (some “exotic” countries). Of course you’ll have to know how to deal with a manual gearbox. For quite a few years if not more. Easy to learn with that type and then adapt to automatic, if you fancy. Why go for the easiest option? A disgusting attitude.
“A car revolution is coming”…..not until there is massive investment in charging infrastructure, not until battery tech gets a lot better and cheaper and not until current cars are all replaced. As he days, 2030 isn’t that far away…
I get the thinking behind it but I mean… It’s not fucking hard, just learn it anyway.
The headline is a totally ridiculous lie as per usual from the Torygraph.
Nobody is being *advised* to NOT take the manual course. The AA are simply saying that more people are now choosing the automatic course as we move towards an EV only world.
20 comments
Doesn’t seem to be behind paywall, but here’s the article just in case:
Instead of lessons on operating a manual gearbox, motoring school pupils will be taught to conserve their battery and drive with one pedal
Young drivers increasingly no longer need to learn how to change gear ahead of the coming revolution in electric cars, the President of the AA has said.
Edmund King said younger learners were already choosing “simpler” lessons in automatic cars because new petrol and diesel vehicles will be banned from the roads in 2030.
In the New Year, the largest driving school in the country will roll out electric car driving lessons nationally for the first time.
Rather than learning how and when to change gear, pupils at the AA-owned British School of Motoring will be taught to conserve their battery and drive with one pedal.
‘A car revolution is coming’
Mr King, who drives an electric car himself, told the Telegraph: “The world of cars is changing. A revolution is coming. I think younger people are beginning to realise that 2030 is really not very far away.
“There is increasingly an acknowledgement that you do not necessarily need to learn how to change gear. In the very near future, you will only need to drive an automatic, because all EVs are automatic.
“Obviously, it is much harder to learn on a stickshift, because the most difficult thing to gather is clutch control. That takes up the first five lessons.”
Drivers taking tests in automatic cars more than triples
After a successful trial last year, and discussions with the Government, the BSM and AA Driving School are to give instructors the option of leasing an electric car as part of their franchise.
The proportion of learner drivers taking their test in an automatic rather than a manual car has already more than tripled since 2008, according to analysis of data from the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency.
In 2008, only 3.8 per cent of tests were taken in an automatic vehicle, but by last year that had grown to 13.8 per cent.
Edmund King said the increase was down to learners preparing for an EV future.
He said: “The increase in automatic tests probably isn’t due to a massive increase in EVs yet but the presumption that in the future everyone will drive EVs so why not take an easier test now to prepare for the future.
“There is still a reluctance among young people to actually buy an EV because they are quite pricey and the insurance costs a lot too.”
Despite gears being considered one of the most challenging elements for new drivers, the pass rate in an automatic is lower than the average, at 39.5 per cent in 2019, compared to 45.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, driving tests could be changed to adjust to electric cars with lessons on choosing an appropriate gear replaced by how to get the most from your battery.
Drivers who take their test in an automatic car could also be allowed to use it for manual systems, to ensure they can still drive older and classic cars.
DVSA’s Deputy Chief Driving Examiner Gordon Witherspoon, said: “We constantly review tests for all vehicle types to take account of changes in technology, driving habits, regulations and highway infrastructure – as well as to respond to accident trends.
“We have already started work to look at the impact of electric vehicles on driver and rider education and assessment and to plan for any changes that this shift in vehicle type and use will need.”
This will become inevitable over time, just like “steer clear of learning how to crank your engine from the handle at the front or use the choke to regulate the richness of the fuel mix” has become a thing.
Whilst things are changing, and EV’s will dominate in the future, that future is a long way off, and almost all of these new drivers are going to be driving older, manual ICE cars.
It’s going to be years and years before everything moves over to full auto only, you might have an auto car but what if you need to rent a van, or you need to drive a works car/van/landrover/pickup for something, what if you think in 10-30+ years time you might want to buy a classic car but there’s no way to do manual licences anymore.
i.e it’s a dum move.
This is really poor advice, even if you believe the EV hype. Most of the cars on the market, particularly used ones, are going to be manual. If you hire a car, particularly from a cheap provider, it’s likely to be a manual ICE. If you need to borrow a mate’s car/van/pickup for a larger load, it might well be. If you learn and get a licence that includes manual gears, you will be able to use all of these options, in addition to EVs.
Currently learning to drive.
Finding an instructor was hard.
It’s manual or nothing round here
If you learn to drive manual your covered for all events. Cheap first cars will not br eletrics for a good while, they are too expensive.
Its alot easier to convert to auto than other way round.
Until their fully dominent its probably good idea to least know how to use mannual gears.
Least then youl never br caught out.
Its difference between being stuck and a lap tound car park, quiet road to get used to auto and off you go.
(if you ever hire car etc, doing a few minute to get feel of car is probbly good advice as standard.)
I did my lessons and test in an automatic and not only have i never had a problem finding cars to buy I’ve had even less issue finding hire cars.
Changing gears and clutch management is dumb and now that the auto tech in petrol cars has been perfected from the dark days of the 1970s, excepting classic car enthusiasts, there’s little reason to stick with manual except for this british top gear lad driver bullshit that everyone’s a boy racer at heart. It’s an administrative mechanical task that has largely been solved.
And that’s before you get to the onset of electric vehicles.
Germany has already changed their training system so that after passing your test in an automatic car, you can ‘upgrade’ to manual by having some lessons with a driving instructor if you find out you later need that capability. I guess more countries will follow suit as fully manual transmissions move away from the norm towards being something only specialists and enthusiasts have to deal with.
Wish I could have learnt to drive in an automatic. Passed my test without ever understanding how manuals work, I don’t really get gears or when I should change. Dunno how to not stall when moving from a stop either. It’s a big reason I got too anxious to drive and just quit about 10 years ago, shortly after passing my test.
I know I should have powered through or got more lessons but my instructor got done for touching up the teenagers so didn’t have the best experience learning in general!
32 and currently learning to drive after putting it off for years. Learning manual as it makes sense to cover all bases. We have a manual car at the moment which I’ll be driving but looking forward to having the money to go electric and go automatic.
Around here it’s apparently difficult to find an instructor that teaches automatic anyway.
I’ve never even driven an automatic. I don’t know how to
Or you can have a manual license and then either buy an EV or an automatic and still be able to hire cars/vans. Drive work vans etc.
Fuck me that’s some shitty advice.
I learnt auto for medical reasons, never looked back. I understand the arguments for manual, I just haven’t come across any, all nice hire cars are auto, all decent comfy cars are auto, all really fast cars are auto, all new cars are auto. So unless you want a classic or a shitbox, it’s probably better in auto.
Fuck off Telegraph with your clickbait headline.
Nowhere in the article does it state that people are being told to steer clear. Simply that more people are learning using automatics, as automatics become more popular. What a fucking surprise.
Since apparently more cars are shifting from manual to automatic, a question for anyone here who’s gone from driving manual to automatic – how did you find the transition?
I’ve only ever driven manual and worry about not knowing what to do in an automatic.
How stupid advice. Imagine you travel abroad (some “exotic” countries). Of course you’ll have to know how to deal with a manual gearbox. For quite a few years if not more. Easy to learn with that type and then adapt to automatic, if you fancy. Why go for the easiest option? A disgusting attitude.
“A car revolution is coming”…..not until there is massive investment in charging infrastructure, not until battery tech gets a lot better and cheaper and not until current cars are all replaced. As he days, 2030 isn’t that far away…
I get the thinking behind it but I mean… It’s not fucking hard, just learn it anyway.
The headline is a totally ridiculous lie as per usual from the Torygraph.
Nobody is being *advised* to NOT take the manual course. The AA are simply saying that more people are now choosing the automatic course as we move towards an EV only world.