Our vehicles are creepy…
Did you know that we go out of our way to make our vehicles creepy? It’s true! But does that mean that our EVs will send shivers down your spine? Or that dogs will howl in the night? Or that we’re developing a line of electric hearses?
Well… no. We’re talking about a different meaning of the word “creep”.
Creep is the behavior of automatic transmissions where a vehicle will move slowly forwards (or backwards, if in reverse) when the driver takes his or her foot off the pedals. This is probably something you’re very familiar with from your own cars or SUVs. It’s very useful for maneuvering and parking and is much appreciated by drivers. Without it, the driver would have to tap the accelerator pedal, which might deliver too much propulsion, or not enough, making it hard to do slow-speed movements. Creep makes it easy.
Hill-hold is a related behavior where a vehicle that’s on an uphill slope will not roll backwards when the driver removes his or her foot from the pedals. (Rolling backwards on a hill… now that really is scary!)
Electric vehicles don’t use complex automatic transmissions, so creep and hill-hold aren’t default behaviors for EVs. They have to be specifically implemented in the control software so that the electric traction motor is powered in just the right way to provide these behaviors. Lightning Systems implements both creep and hill-hold in all our EVs, making a great driver experience even better – and safer.
So, there’s nothing to be afraid of.
By the way, I was going to make a joke about “Transitvania”… but it’s been done. Enjoy!