BYD Creates E3 EV With Manual Trans To Teach Others How To Drive

The car has a real clutch and a large brake pedal on the passenger side.

This Is The BYD E3 EV With A Manual Transmission For Driving Schools

Gustavo Henrique Ruffo

By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo

May 12, 2021 at 9:03am ET

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The Chinese market has some interesting peculiarities. The Chinese driver’s license has two main categories: C1 and C2. The C2 driver’s license allows you only to drive automatic vehicles. That makes most drivers seek the C1 driver’s license, which would be more complete. To help these citizens become more complete drivers in a clean way, BYD developed a version of the e3 EV with a manual transmission.

You did not read it wrong. The e3 EV with a manual transmission would have a real clutch but not a real manual transmission, according to Sohu. Instead, it has a shift mechanism that mimics a 5-speed gearbox.

This Is The BYD E3 EV With A Manual Transmission For Driving Schools

We got in touch with BYD to try to learn more about how the system works and how it behaves. If it is not like a combustion-engined car with a manual gearbox would, we wonder if it accomplishes the task of teaching these drivers how not to stall the engine and depart smoothly, for example. We also wonder how strong is this clutch to cope with the torque of an electric motor.

This Is The BYD E3 EV With A Manual Transmission For Driving Schools

The other changes were the replacement of the electronic handbrake for a mechanical one – activated by a lever, like cars once had them – and the addition of a brake pedal on the passenger side for the driving instructor to stop the car if necessary. The driving instructor also gets an auxiliary horn switch and additional rear-view mirrors.

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The e3 EV “with a manual transmission” comes with four driving modes: economy, teaching, throttle lock, and sport. BYD also sells it with a tri-color scheme that is used by driving school vehicles in China: the original color on the pillars and roof, brown for the hood, trunk lid, and upper part of the doors, and yellow for the bumpers and lower part of the doors.

Gallery: This Is The BYD E3 EV With A Manual Transmission For Driving Schools

This Is The BYD E3 EV With A Manual Transmission For Driving Schools

Being so specific, this special e3 EV can only be bought by driving schools and instructors, and it costs RMB131,800 ($20,465 at the current exchange rate). The e3 EV comes with a Blade Battery with a capacity of 38 kWh and a range of 350 km.

Source: BYD via CarNewsChina, via Autohome, via Sohu

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