I’ve proudly driven a stick shift since I was 17. Next month, I’m trading it in for an electric car.
My 1994 Geo Prizm took me through college and a move to Chicago until I sold it for $850 and a Walmart gift card. My current car, a Mazda 3 hatchback, has been with our family through two kids, a move to Oak Park, and more road trips than I can count. It is the best car I have ever owned. But it’s time to let it (and my beloved manual transmission) go.
When it comes to new technology, many of us place ourselves somewhere on the technology-adoption curve — innovators, early adopters, early majority, all the way to laggards. With cars, I have been a laggard through multiple cycles of innovation: automatic transmission, driver assistance systems, hybrid cars. But there’s a lesser-known concept in the adoption curve: the leapfrogger, the person who held onto their landline until 2015 and then got an iPhone. Next month, I’m making my leap.
Whenever I bring up our EV decision, the first question people ask is about road trips. They jump straight to the edge case. And for families who genuinely drive long distances regularly, that is a fair question. But for me, this decision required an honest look at our actual lifestyle. We live in a walkable, bikeable community with easy train access downtown, where I work. We drive fewer than 40 miles a week and have a garage to charge in. The road trips we actually take regularly — to places like Madison, Southwest Michigan, Indianapolis — are all within range, with good charging infrastructure along the way. We are buying a car for the 99% case. If we ever need something different, we can rent.
A neighbor suggested I keep the Mazda as a second car. I thought about that. But I couldn’t justify holding onto a car that could be a gas-efficient, affordable option for someone who really needs it, just to preserve my preferred way of driving. That’s nostalgia. And nostalgia won’t solve our climate crisis.
Oak Park’s Climate Ready sustainability plan calls for net zero emissions by 2050, with a 60% reduction by 2030. We are already behind on our goals. Meanwhile, passenger vehicles account for roughly 25% of local emissions. But we know it’s not realistic for everyone to trade in their gas cars for electric at once. The Rocky Mountain Institute has a framework called “zero over time.” For those of us feeling overwhelmed by the scale of what climate action requires, zero over time offers a more accessible on-ramp: When your systems reach end of life, replace them with the cleanest available option.
I’ll miss the stick shift. The feeling of actually operating a vehicle, feeling connected to how it works. It will be a transition to drive a big computer.
But if not now, when?