Why Electric Vehicle Drivers Need Training

It wasn’t that long ago that a sub-6 second sprint to 100km/h was the domain of serious sports cars.

The year was 2000. The world had finally gotten over the cataclysmic potential eventualities of the Y2K bug, and the Euro came into circulation. More interestingly the Ferrari F430 was a 4 second proposition for the 0-100km/h sprint and in more relevance to Australian shores, a HSV ClubSport R8 was in the mid 5’s. Some will say 25 years is a long time and I agree, particularly given the volume of change in the motoring world in that time.

This 2000 HSV Clubsport could dispatch the sprint to 100km/h in 5.5 seconds

I’m surely not alone in fondly recalling grabbing the latest Wheels or Motor magazine and hastily flicking to the back to find the latest 0-100 times for a Falcon XR-8 or Commodore SS. As a young car person, it was exciting to watch the numbers tumble, like some medieval gong heralding a milestone of motoring progress.

Statistics like it were halos for both manufacturers and the motoring media. It sold cars and magazines in a time when Google was still competing with Yahoo!.

It was a badge of honour. The one-up on the competitor and the right to brag amongst friends if you possessed the right set of keys.

Nowadays you can buy a commuter vehicle that will match and eclipse those times, while carrying 4 people and the pet groodle. A great example was an MG4 Xpower I road tested a little while ago. Outwardly a commuter hatchback, with great utility might I add. Its secret weapon was twin motors that developed a combined 320Kw and 600Nm of torque that saw the sprint to 100km/h achieved in 3.8 seconds. Remember the “285” badges on the series 2 VY HSV Clubsport, the ones denoting outputs from its LS V8??

The 2024 MG X-Power can sprint to 100km/h in 3.8 seconds

That level of acceleration is a rush in anyone’s books, the first couple of times anyway. The point is, in the wrong hands this level of capability becomes a liability. Now I’m no race car driver, but I’ve had enough knocks to make my 20+ year career in motor insurance appear humorous. By the same token I’ve had enough time on tracks both tar and dirt to understand the capability limits of both driver and vehicle.

The same cannot be said for everyone though. It’s not just the ability to reach the speed, it’s the instantaneous nature of power delivery. This is where the warm clutches of the various nanny-spec safety aids featuring in every new car become an asset.

Despite them however, some reports show that frequency of traffic incidents is higher amongst EV’s that ICE counterparts. The data is rocky though, much like the reports that purport the environmental benefits of EV’s, but that’s for another article.

With the continued impetus by governments globally to support the manufacture and adoption of electric vehicles, is there a moral obligation to ensure the public is capable enough to handle these vehicles? Recent reports from the Shanghai Motor Show revealed a 1300-odd Hp EV that can not only sprint to 100 in 2 seconds but jump and spin on its own axis. That’s hypercar status and won’t compete with the XPower but the rate of development is staggering.

Let’s keep it simple and go back to the year 2000. Would you throw the keys to said Ferrari to someone who’d been driving a Camry for 20 years without some trepidation?