Author of the comment: Aurimas Tamašauskas, manager of the BMW representative in Lithuania “Krasta Auto”.
Although a large proportion of the transport used today still consists of petrol or diesel cars, the transition to environmentally friendly electric cars is gaining momentum. The number of pure electric cars in Lithuania, according to “Regitras”, has exceeded 11 thousand, and “S&P Global Mobility” predicts that 2026 will be a turning point for the mass electrification of the transport sector. This means that more and more drivers will switch to electric cars. So the question is, how will switching to electric cars change our driving habits?
After starting to drive electric cars, drivers will notice a number of cardinal changes – from a change in car maintenance to a different way of driving them. However, the biggest challenge will not be driving an electric car, but changing old habits.
We will look at charging a car like charging a smartphone
When driving gasoline or diesel cars, we are used to planning our travel route and time without thinking about stops to fill up the gas tank. Because the network of gas stations is wide, and it doesn’t take long to refuel. Therefore, when we travel, we keep track of the fuel remaining in the car.
Meanwhile, charging an electric car battery should be viewed in the same way as charging your smartphone: if we know we are going to drive far, we will want to have a fuller battery, and if we are nearby for a short time, we will not pay attention to the remaining battery. For example, if a fully charged electric car can travel about 300 kilometers, and a person’s journey to and from work is about 50 kilometers, then the car will be able to be charged once every 4-5 days. If you have a charging station in your yard or at work, you can leave your car, like your smart device, charging while you work, sleep or do other activities. True, when preparing for a long trip of several hundred kilometers, depending on the electric car, you may have to plan 30 minutes. duration stop to charge the battery. And it makes sense to combine such charging with some other activity – eating or something else.
By the way, manufacturers are improving batteries very quickly and modern electric cars are already able to cover 500-600 km on a single charge, that is, they have come close to the driving distance of cars with an internal combustion engine.
Easier car maintenance
Another change drivers will notice is less involvement in car maintenance. Today, gasoline or diesel cars need to be checked more often than just during the technical inspection: regularly and carefully inspect the belts of internal combustion engines, change fuel or oil filters, etc. Drivers themselves have to look under the hood of the car and check the level of various fluids – cooling, lubricants.
Meanwhile, when you start driving an electric car, you will immediately feel that it requires significantly less maintenance. It even physically has fewer details – if the internal combustion chassis has more than 2,000 thousand miles. moving parts, in an electric car – just 20. In addition, in an electric vehicle, a lot of things are controlled by software, so the driver’s own intervention is very little. It is very likely that you will only need to worry about topping up the window washer fluid. For example, in the BMW iX model, the hood does not open – only the BMW badge opens, under which the window washer fluid tank is hidden.
Just a few button presses to start driving
Although we can partially compare driving an electric car to a car with an automatic gearbox, it is important to emphasize one fundamental difference – you won’t find gears here. The advantage of such technology is that as soon as you press the accelerator pedal with your foot, the electric car will immediately gain power and you will not have to wait for the gears to change.
The start of the drive will also be different from the usual, but the important thing is that the way most electric cars drive is basically the same. You can turn on the electric car with just one push of a button. You’ll be surprised, but you won’t hear it when you start the engine. And to start the journey, it will be enough to choose the driving option.
A different braking method
Electric cars, like conventional cars with an automatic transmission, have only two pedals – the brake and the accelerator. However, it is possible that most of the time you will drive using only one pedal – the accelerator.
This is because electric cars use regenerative braking – when the accelerator pedal is released, the car starts to stop by itself, as a device is activated that converts the rolling energy into electricity and returns it to the electric car’s battery. Thus, you will develop the habit of stopping not by pressing the brake pedal, but by simply releasing the accelerator in time. It is also worth noting that this driving habit will also save battery energy, at the same time delaying the charging time of the electric car, as well as saving brake discs and pads.
In conclusion, the transition to electric car driving and change in the general sense is definitely inevitable. Therefore, for those who already drive cars with an automatic transmission, the experience of driving an electric car should be closer, but it does not mean that people who drive cars with a manual transmission today will have a harder time accepting the coming changes. In any case, electric cars will not only make driving much easier, but will also make it cheaper to operate and maintain them.
The report was published by: Eimantė Urmonaitė, Integrity PR, UAB
