Toyota thinks it’s a good idea to put a fake manual transmission in an EV.

Jennifer Mossalgue, Dec 12 2023
Full Article: https://electrek.co/2023/12/12/toyota-thinks-its-a-good-idea-to-put-a-fake-manual-transmission-in-an-ev/

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It’s been a little over a year since we first heard rumors that Toyota was devising a fake manual transmission with a clutch pedal and shifter to pretend you are shifting gears, and apparently, some patents date back to 2017. But lately, Toyota has been back at devising the system, which it dubs a “manual BEV concept.” At the Japan Mobility Show at the end of last month, it debuted a concept version of its Lexus UX 300e that featured the gearbox and clutch, the whole works. Excitement from the trial apparently encouraged the company to take it further.

While outside the vehicle, things run quietly as any typical EV; inside, you are transported to Fast and Furious, with artificial engine noise piped through the speakers to fully replicate the experience of driving an ICE engine. “From the outside, this vehicle is as quiet as any other BEV. But the driver is able to experience all the sensations of a manual transmission vehicle,” said chief engineer of Lexus’s EVs Takashi Watanabe. “This gave us so much fun that the project is now under serious development.”

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Most EVs just have a single-speed transmission, which can feel a bit flat for lovers of manual transmissions. EVs are way more efficient than ICE vehicles and can deliver full 100% torque after 0 RPM, whereas an ICE engine needs gears with different ratios to transfer that energy from the engine to the wheels at varying speeds. Some EVs from Porsche, Audi, and Jaguar use multispeed transmissions in their vehicles, which have two or more gears to reduce the load on the electric motor at higher speeds and extend driving range.

Fake transmissions certainly aren’t a new concept, with Dodge releasing a feature in its Charger Daytona SRT “Banshee” concept called eRupt transmission. Honda also toyed with the idea of a simulated manual transmission for its future EV lineup, not even the high-performance models, but decided to drop it.

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