Learning to drive question - EV

cjohnw, May 28, 5:40pm
Anyone know if it is possible to sit your licence in an electric car?
My granddaughter wants to get her licence but my son only has two electric vehicles at the moment.
Cant seem to find an answer on NZTA site.
Thanks.

saxman99, May 28, 6:14pm
Why would it make any difference?

familiadude1, May 28, 6:16pm
It's a car

harm_less, May 28, 6:18pm
Possibly restricted to driving an automatic transmission vehicle (as all EVs are) but otherwise the motive power should make no difference.

cjohnw, May 28, 6:21pm
Yep. My question too.
Her mother raised the issue and we couldn’t find a definitive answer.
Is there a requirement for a restricted licence sitter to drive a particular type of car? I am thinking manual vs auto for example.

bitsy_boffin, May 28, 6:43pm
If she sits a restricted in an AUTO she will only be able to drive AUTO on the restricted, once she does full then she can drive either manual or auto regardless (there is no Auto Only condition for full licences)

An EV would be classed as an Auto for sure.

The motive power of a vehicle doesn't make a difference, there is no quiz on how your motor works :-)

cjohnw, May 28, 7:11pm
Thanks, yes it seems you are all correct.
Her mother (worry wort) has spoken to her driving instructor.
She had lessons in his Suzuki Swift but will be taking the test in her Mum’s Leaf and the instructor says she can sit it in either vehicle without compromise.
The question just needed to be answered it seems.
Cheers.

gblack, May 29, 8:52am
I did wonder what would happen if you took something like a Tesla with self driving package on a driving test.

Even my older car can automatically parallel park. It's optional whether you use it, but would funny to see what would happen if the tester asked the person taking the test to parallel park and they just pulled up, pressed the button and took hands off steering wheel while the car maneuvered itself.

apollo11, May 29, 9:09am
Might as well just stay home and let the car do the test for them.

martin11, May 29, 10:37am
Its not optional in a test , you have to do the work yourself with no aids .

vtecintegra, May 29, 12:36pm
So they cover up the reversing camera and make you turn off the parking sensors then?

martin11, May 29, 12:47pm
Yes when I was testing a few years ago we did .

s_nz, May 29, 2:12pm
I have heard of people sitting their tests in leaf's before.

As others said, (despite the leaf not having an automatic gearbox - Its a fixed ratio reduction box), it is likely that the driver won't be allowed to drive a manual between their restricted and full licence. Once full licence is had, they can drive whatever they like, regardless or what the tests were sat in.

It's not leaf specific, but testing people's hill starts must be a bit of a have with a car with anti-roll back. Guess they just want to see you apply the parking break, as though the car didn't have that feature.

harm_less, May 29, 4:40pm
Driving an automatic pretty much makes the park *brake* redundant anyway, except for actually parking. One foot for each pedal so ease onto the accelerator as you ease off the (foot) brake. That's the way I've hill started for the past 40+ years.

s_nz, May 29, 7:23pm
Be aware that some car's (incl my 2006 one) cut back power if you press the brake and accelerator at the same time.

kazbanz, May 30, 4:51pm
l guess you have your answer. Motive power doesn’t matter. Gearbox does but only split between full manual and any form of auto

socram, Aug 1, 6:47am
Same here. Impossible to stuff up a hill start as when you come to a standstill, the car won't run backwards anyway.

I'd be somewhat worried about letting any driver 'borrow' any manual car of mine, if they had only ever driven automatics. Correction. I would NEVER lend a manual car to such a person!

For some of us, there is no greater driving joy than a slick double declutch downward gear change, whilst 'heeling and toeing' - and with a raspy exhaust note.

Non-petrolheads will never understand that. To them, a car is merely a means of getting from A - B.