Honda’s Crazy Experiment: Reintroducing Manual Transmissions for Electric Cars? For Real.

Okay, so let’s talk about Honda-the car company responsible for everything from the no-nonsense CR-V to the insane S2000. Well, they’re trying something. different. Like, “you-never-knew-you-needed-this” kind of different. They are testing manual transmissions in electric cars. Yes, you heard that right. Stick shifts. In electric vehicles, or EVs for short. I kid you not.

Manual Transmissions in EVs: Why?

But for now, if you were wondering why anyone would even want a manual transmission in an EV-well, here it is. Instant torque is really the one thing all electric cars have in common: hit the pedal, and they go, or more like whoosh, since engineers decided our future should sound like a quiet fan. But what it doesn’t have-that symphony of satisfying tugs from shifting through gears-is, to me, akin to wholly being in control of this powerful machine. What that does is it makes you feel like a race car driver, even when you’re going to the grocery store.

But Honda, cognizant that some of us enjoy a bit more spice in our driving lives, has fitted a stick and a clutch pedal into their electric vehicles. So we are all clear here, this is not a real manual transmission. It’s more of a simulation-you know, like doing dumbbell…