Do electric cars have gears? And how do they work?

They don’t just look futuristic – EVs are the future. Sleek, high-tech, and packed with innovation, they’re built very differently from their petrol and diesel counterparts.

Want to get under the hood and find out how they work – from battery and motors to braking and charging? Join us on a whistle-stop tour of the key parts of an electric car and the benefits they offer drivers.

EVs are mechanically much simpler than petrol cars, with around 90% fewer moving parts. This is great news for anyone looking to keep maintenance costs down – fewer parts to go wrong means fewer repairs.

The basic building blocks of an electric car are:

• Battery – stores the electricity needed to power the vehicle.
• Battery Management System (BMS) – the car’s ‘brain’, which determines how power is distributed, optimises efficiency, and helps maximise range.
• Electric motor(s) & regenerative braking system – provides the power needed to move the wheels and captures energy released while braking to recharge the battery.
• Charging port & cables – enables the driver to charge the battery via home or public charging points.

Your EV’s battery is its power source – it drives the electric motor that turns the wheels. Since electricity is cheaper than fuel, you could save up to 7p per mile by choosing an EV.

You can charge an EV in three main ways:

• Home charging (AC) – The cheapest and most convenient option, adding up to 30 miles per hour and taking 8–10 hours for a full charge. Most people charge overnight when energy is greener and cheaper.
• Fast public charging (AC) – Slightly quicker than home charging but more expensive. These chargers often top up your battery while you’re out and about – think of it like filling up while watching a film at the cinema.
• Rapid public charging (DC) – The fastest (and most expensive) way to charge, adding miles in minutes. Perfect for long journeys – just enough time for a loo break and a coffee. These chargers work best when your battery is low, so charging in short bursts is actually quicker in the long run.

Depending on the model of your car, your driving style, the weather conditions, and the age of your battery, you’ll typically get anywhere between 100 and 300 miles off a single charge. 

And, with so much funding and research focusing on EVs as a green alternative to petrol vehicles, the range and longevity of EV batteries are improving all the time! Ten years ago, a 300-mile range felt revolutionary. Now, several models with 300+ mile ranges are released each year.

With the tech getting smarter by the minute, expect longer ranges and faster charging times with each generation of EVs that hits the forecourts.

An electric motor is essentially two electromagnets. When an electric current flows through them, one magnet starts spinning – and that movement is transferred through a gearbox to the wheels.

Unlike petrol or diesel engines, electric motors don’t need to build up revs to generate power. They deliver instant torque from a standstill, making them incredibly responsive. With a rev range from 0 to 20,000rpm, they’re much more flexible than a traditional engine, allowing precise control over speed.

Electric motors can also work in reverse – converting kinetic energy back into electricity. This depends on polarity and resistance, meaning the direction of the electric flow and how much force is needed to push it through. This clever two-way system is a big part of why EVs are so efficient.

If you’ve ever played with a fast-spinning top, you’ll know that if you try to pick it up while it’s spinning quickly, it pushes back – that’s excess energy being released. In a petrol or diesel car, that energy is simply lost as heat when braking.

In an EV, however, regenerative braking harnesses and recoups that energy instead of wasting it. That’s why it feels like regen braking ‘adds range’ – it’s not generating new energy but recovering what would have been lost.

Additionally, most EVs have at least two motors, allowing for torque vectoring – independently controlling braking force on each wheel. This makes EVs more stable and responsive when cornering, contributing to their reputation as safer, more controlled vehicles. This is part of the reason why many people consider EVs a safer option than petrol/diesel cars.

Short answer: Not traditional gears, no. But they do have a gearbox – with just one gear.

EVs operate more like automatics than manuals, with no clutch and no need to shift gears. Instead, a single-speed reduction gear smooths out acceleration and deceleration by adjusting motor output.

Some high-performance EVs use two-speed gearboxes, but this is purely for efficiency at higher speeds, with the car shifting automatically. Hyundai even offers a gearbox emulator in the Ioniq 5N – purely for driver engagement, as all their performance lap times were set with it switched off!

Absolutely.

Here in the UK, most people learn to drive a manual transmission car partly because it’s very easy to switch from driving manual to automatic. There’s less stuff to think about – you simply let the car do its thing with regard to gears.

In fact, hop into an automatic car once, and after about five minutes of being confused about the clutch not being there, you’ll find it a much more relaxing experience overall.

And, as driving an EV is just like driving an automatic (with smoother acceleration thanks to the less gears), you’ll be zipping around in no time.

In short - yes. One of the perks of electric cars is their simplicity under the bonnet. With far fewer moving parts than petrol or diesel vehicles – fewer gears to grind, no oil to change, no exhaust systems to worry about – there’s simply less that can go wrong. That can mean lower servicing and maintenance costs over time.

Of course, you’ll still need to look after things like tyres, brake fluid and annual checks – but overall, EVs tend to be gentler on your wallet when it comes to upkeep.

If you're leasing through Intelligent EV, maintenance and servicing are already included in your monthly payment – so you don’t need to stress about unexpected bills.

Want to know more about what’s involved in keeping an EV in top shape? We’ve broken it all down in our EV servicing and maintenance guide.