The other day one of my students made a comment about how prior knowledge and asking how much of it we needed to review. He then used the metaphor of driving a car – stating that everyone knows you “put the key in the ignition”, “put gas in the gas tank” … he went on and all I could do was laugh.

You see, earlier this week I got a new car – a Chevrolet Bolt – which is fully electric. I had to read the quick start guide to understand even the most basic parts of learning how to drive it. Each time I take it out I learn a new feature. I think it will be at least a month before I have figured out most of it.

The first challenge was turning it on – press break and hit button as long as the key fob is in the car. There is no “ignition”. It is simply an on/off button.

After driving it a couple of days, I needed to recharge a little. That too took a bunch of research. Eventually, I went with the slow charge from the house for now – but I might try out one of the quick charging stations the next time I go to the grocery store. Again – this is not obvious. It is like not knowing where to find a gas station and then not knowing how to operate the pump when you get there – nor how to pay – except at the gas station there is an attendant that can help you – with the electric charge stations you are on your own.

So far, I love the new car. It takes a bit to get used to the even acceleration, as there is no “shifting” of gears involved. I’ve started to play with the manual regenerative braking – it does some of this automatically so I’m not sure if doing anything manually is any better than what the car does automatically when you hit the brake pedal.

Last night my husband used the expression we are very familiar with – it is like riding a bike – but we know, that it isn’t exactly the same thing. As recumbent riders, we had to learn many thing aknew – sure many of the skills are transferable, but not all of them. Some of the things you take for granted are different.

I’m definitely exercising my mind every time I get behind the wheel!