Eli5 Why do cars move at all when in drive without the accelerator being used. I’m not talking cruise control.

Question

Eli5 Why do cars move at all when in drive without the accelerator being used. I’m not talking cruise control.

In: 42

Answer 1

Cars with manual transmissions don’t do this. Rather than creep, they roll freely.

Cars with automatic transmissions have a thing called a torque converter that is part used to switch gears. It’s kind of like a propeller attached to the engine facing another propeller attached to the gears, with fluid between them. When you’re stopped, there’s enough force from spinning one to move the other and make the car creep forward.

In electric cars, there’s no engine, and there’s nothing like the transmission of the ICE car. The makers of EVs then decide how it’s going to behave. My car actually has a configuration setting for this: roll like a manual, creep like an automatic, or hold still (which I use).