Various car makers have tested multi-gear gearboxes in electric vehicles (EVs) but none of them were successful enough to make it to production. While Porsche Taycan and Audi E-Tron GT are the only two currently on the market, Toyota is also attempting the same, as disclosed in its submitted patents.
Toyota is looking to build a system that resembles the conversion of an internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle to electric while keeping the manual gearbox. These EV conversions are generally left in a single gear (third or fourth) depending on the motor’s configuration and maximum revolutions per minute (RPMs), eliminating the need for the clutch as no shifting is required.
How it Works
At first glance, Toyota’s patent drawings and diagrams may appear complex but the idea behind it is quite simple. The system will use a special controller that changes the torque of the electric motor to make it feel more like a gasoline vehicle.
It seems like a real clutch pedal that the driver will press to change gears by moving a physical shifter although the text refers to it as ‘pseudo-shifter’ and ‘pseudo-clutch pedal,’ implying that they are not necessary and that their purpose is to simulate the feel of a manual transmission in a car that does not require it.
One of the patents reads:
- The controller of the electric vehicle is configured to control the torque of the electric motor using the MT vehicle model based on the operation amount of the accelerator pedal, the operation amount of the pseudo-clutch pedal, and the shift position of the pseudo-shifter used by the operation of the reaction force actuator.
- The controller is configured to store shift reaction force characteristic simulating the characteristic of the shift reaction force according to the operation of the shifter. Then, the controller is configured to control the shift reaction force output by the shift reaction force generator according to the operation of the pseudo-shifter using the stored shift reaction force characteristic.
Designed for Sporty Cars
In simple words, it seems like the presumed pseudo-shifter will actually move, just like it does in a Mazda MX-5, where each press of the accelerator causes the shifter to move and respond differently, enhancing the excitement and character of the vehicle.
This leads to the assumption that Toyota could adopt this pseudo-manual transmission in an upcoming sporty car. Toyota’s president, Akio Toyoda, is passionate about it and has promised to bring more thrilling cars to the company’s inventory.
