Auto Transmissions Killed The Clutch, Will EVs Do The Same To Brakes?

Cars that were made 50 years ago, had no power steering or power assisted brakes. This meant that to manouver and stop them, required you to have strong biceps and leg muscles. However, thanks to the magic of hydraulics, you can now turn the steering wheel with one finger and step on the brake pedal with little resistance.

The same is true for transmissions. Back when manual gearboxes ruled the roost, stepping on the clutch pedal allowed you to disengage the connection between the transmission and engine to make a gear change.

This task, as tough as it seems now, was a lot more difficult before the introduction of synchromesh. It’s a system that allows the following gears to come up to speed with the current one before a smooth change can occur between them. Vehicles without it required drivers to step on the clutch pedal twice (double clutching) each time they wanted to change gears.

The advent of automatic transmissions, rendered these issues obsolete as everything from disengaging the connection, gear selection, rev matching and shifting was done by the computer. The driver only needed to select drive or reverse and the vehicle did the rest – such is progress.

Why do we need gearboxes? Unlike electric motors, internal combustion engines produce optimal power within a certain power window. A transmission and its gears allow you to change the vehicle speed while ensuring that the engine is kept within said power window for optimal performance and fuel efficiency.

Since electric vehicles burst onto the scene, they have rendered these technologies obsolete. EVs use an electric motor and single speed transmission (depending on the configuration) to propel it forward. The battery supplies electricity to the electric motor, and it moves the vehicle.

But there’s more to that story. Through regenerative braking, the motor also helps slow the vehicle down. During normal operation, a motor consumes electricity to produce mechanical movement. However, with regenerative braking, it works as a generator by converting the vehicle’s movement into electricity that is used to charge the batteries.

Like ICE vehicles, EVs are still equipped with conventional brakes but they work in tandem with regenerative braking. When you step on the brake pedal, the motor works to reduce the speed of the vehicle. But if the braking needs exceed its ability, the conventional brakes activate to apply more braking power.

That said, most modern EVs use regenerative braking as a brake assist feature that activate the moment you take your foot off the accelerator pedal. This immediately slows said vehicle down reducing the need to use the brake pedal.

50 years ago, you needed to have a certain amount of skill to balance the clutch pedal with your left foot. The right foot was then used to operate the accelerator and brake pedal. Automatic transmissions made the clutch pedal obsolete and now EVs have made us less reliant on the brake pedal.

This evolution has gradually altered our driving behaviour. With an EV, all you have to do is select the drive mode, then press the accelerator pedal. By modulating the pressure applied to it, you can speed up or slow the car down.

As such, for EV owners, the task of driving from point A to B has been reduced from a laborious and highly skilled task to a minor inconvenience.