It’s not just about saving money.It is about arriving less tired.

1. The best automatic transmission is no transmission

In India, we are used to compromise when it comes to automatics. AMTs can be jerky and "head-nodding". CVTs can suffer from that "rubber-band" effect where the engine screams but speed builds slowly. DSGs are great but expensive to maintain.

An EV is an automatic by default, but it cheats. It doesn't have gears to shift. It is a single-speed reduction gear.

This means the drive is perfectly synchronous. There is zero lag, zero shift-shock, and zero hunting for gears on a slope. Whether you are crawling at 5 km/h in Silk Board traffic or accelerating to 80 km/h, the power delivery is linear and uninterrupted. It is objectively smoother than even the most expensive luxury petrol automatics.

2. The "Fatigue Factor" and NVH

NVH stands for Noise, Vibration, and Harshness. In an ICE car, you are sitting on top of a machine that explodes fuel thousands of times a minute. Even in refined cars, that vibration travels through the floor, the pedals, and the steering wheel.

In an EV, that background hum is gone. Sitting in traffic feels different because the car is truly off. You don't realize how much micro-stress that constant engine vibration adds until it is gone.

"My dad, without any coercion or knowing much about the tech, mentioned that he felt significantly more well-rested after a long trip in the EV compared to our old sedan." – This is a very common observation. The lack of low-frequency engine noise lowers driver fatigue significantly over long hours.

3. Instant Torque: Overtaking made easy

Most mass-market EVs are significantly faster than their ICE counterparts in the 0–60 km/h sprint, which is what matters in the city.

In a turbo-petrol or diesel, when you stomp the pedal to overtake a truck, there is a pause: the gearbox kicks down, the turbo spools up, and then you go. In an EV, torque is instant. You spot a gap, you press the pedal, and you are in the gap. This "point-and-shoot" ability makes driving in chaotic Indian traffic much less stressful because you have confidence the car will respond immediately.

4. The "Enthusiast" Math: Performance vs Efficiency

If you drive a Turbo Petrol car enthusiastically (hard acceleration, fast highway runs), you know the pain: fuel efficiency can drop to sub-9 kmpl figures very quickly. The penalty for having fun is huge.

In an EV, electricity consumption does rise if you drive hard, but the financial penalty is tiny. Because electricity is so cheap (₹1–1.5/km base cost), even if your efficiency drops by 30% due to spirited driving, your cost only goes up to maybe ₹2/km. You can enjoy the performance of the car without worrying about burning ₹10 for every hard acceleration.

5. The Learning Curve: Regen and "Nausea"

It isn't all perfect, though. The biggest difference in comfort is Regenerative Braking. When you lift your foot off the accelerator, the car slows down rapidly to recharge the battery.

If you treat the pedal like an on/off switch (lift off suddenly), the car will jerk back. This constant "head-bobbing" acceleration and deceleration can actually cause motion sickness or nausea for passengers.

There is a learning curve. You have to learn to "feather" the pedal—lifting off slowly to brake smoothly. Once you master it, "one-pedal driving" is very comfortable in traffic, but for the first week, your passengers might complain until you get your right foot adjusted.