Toyota has built an EV with a fake transmission, and we’ve driven it

In 20 years or less this will sound as stupid as if some "innovator" of the early automobile days had added a galloping motion to car seats or a lever you could pull to dump fake manure in the middle of the road.

Look, I really enjoy driving a car with a manual transmission, and I will probably own one until they are as expensive to own as a horse is currenrly. But I can't for the life of me imagine why someone would take a system that has none of the disadvantages of a manual transmission system, and... add them back in a completely superficial way for some reason.

39

Yeah, I've driven manual transmissions my whole life and recently got a leaf, there's no reason to add all this crap to it to make it more fun. It's the most responsive car I've ever driven and I mostly drive it in "less fun mode"

I could see having a "transmission" in something like a rivian, but more as something for off-roading or carrying heavy loads to give you more control of your speed and rather than mimicking a sports car.

9
Can I get the "fake" manure feature on my current car? The ability to have my car take a shit would be hilarious!

4
There is some value to a multi-gear electric system. An electric motor consumes more power the faster it spins. With a single speed system, driving at a high speed means the motor is consuming way more energy than it would be at low speeds. The only production electric car I know of that has multiple gears is the Porsche Taycan, mainly because the Autobahn is a large factor, driving at 170KM/h for an extended period in a Tesla would drain the battery much faster than the Taycan in this case.

Also, go look at older electric conversions for traditionally gas powered cars (there were kits to do this all the way back in the 70s, people still do it today). Most of them went with manual transmissions to extend range and make maintenance easy.

To be fair, I'm not super into EVs, so maybe there's some big flaw with a truly manual EV I'm overlooking (I could see the very high torque curves putting lots of stress on the gears, but so do large diesel engines), but from what I can see there is a valid use case.

1

I don't think I like it. No judgement for others but I don't like cars with fake vents and I'm sure I won't like cars with fake transmissions.

I think there is value in a transmission in EVs. While they don't really need under gears they do need overdrive to get better highway mileage. And I imagine if we put weaker engines we could use under gears to get the performance with less of a power drain.

Some cars first gear is over 3:1 while others it's closer to 2:1.

22

Porsche Taycan has a two speed gearbox, primarily so it can cruise at autobahn speeds without impacting acceleration. Efficiency benefits only work if the extra weight of the gearbox and transmission losses aren't more than the range gained .

https://www.wired.com/story/electric-car-two-speed-transmission-gearbox/

11
- This is what I was imagining to start with!
  
  2
You won't gain anything meaningful from an overdrive with electric motors, they don't need to be kept in a small rpm band to not lose efficiency

8
- Overdrive puts the engine in a lower RPM band which would save the battery I feel like. Plus a few cars have em.
  
  -2
It also has fake engine noise 🙄 https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/15/23762020/electric-ev-manual-transmission-fake-noise-toyota-lexus

6
- Fords been doing it for a long time already, emulate engine noise through the speakers to make it sound peppier.
  
  10
- That's not even just an EV thing. Multiple cars like the golf R or even some ford mustangs use a way to amplify or create engine noises for the driver. Wiki page
  
  8
- I hate that too!
  
  I've seen a few gas cars that do that and videos that talk about how to disable it. I feel like I'd rather just a better exhaust. My car has a variable exhaust that overrides my choice at lower speeds and it annoys me.
  
  3
- Fake engine noise is important for safety reasons. If people can't hear cars, there are far more incidents. A lot of time and effort has gone into sound design for electric vehicles so people can hear when they're accelerating, slowing down, etc.
  
  -4

This is so dumb. A manual transmission is one way to solve for the power band of ICEs. EVs don't have this issue. Why create it?

20

Fun.

21
- Yeah, let's be honest - your average manual car driver chose that transmission for one reason - fun. And there's really no reason it wouldn't apply here. Manual transmissions have been "pointless" from a purely practical view for years, especially with autostick being a thing. But people like them because they're fun to drive, and some people like being more involved with their driving experience.
  
  Tldr; let people have their fun, it's not like this is ever going to be standard - you'll never be forced to buy one lol
  
  9
- Ngl I feel like falling asleep when I drive an automatic car. I'm not even a car bro or anything. I just think if I'm gonna have to drive a lot, it may as well be more engaging to my monkey brain
  
  2
Same reason Dodge is gonna put fake engine noise in their EV charger

3
- In their EV Charger or their EV charger?
  
  7
- Also very silly 😜
  
  3

So its cosplay for cars? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

All the work and effort needed to eek out the most performance from an ICE car is an understandable act. For purists that don't mind the effort they can achieve something that most can't in ICE. For those that can't we just watch and appreciate their talents.

However for EV none of that is necessary and in fact introducing manual "rev limits" or limitations or speed or performance at certain vehicle speeds to simulate the shortcomings of an ICE car (with a narrow power band that defines the limit of the technology) is the opposite of "extra effort for extra performance". Its "reduced performance for extra effort". Its making a thing look and act like another thing purely for cosmetic reasons.

I have no problem if people want to do this or buy vehicles that have this, but its not something I'm interested in.

14

I'm sure production will make manual mode just a mode, same as shift mode in automatics (including cvt). Some people just enjoy it. I have a mild sports car and a shitty mini truck. I have a "beginner" motorcycle and a rocketing sport bike. The sport bike and sport car check boxes for performing well, but the baby bike and shitty mini truck are a blast to row through the gears on in double-digit speeds and half the gas. For all intents and purposes I'm pretending those two are race vehicles while being far from it with their US-highway shortcomings.

Besides, this is one step closer to the skateboard chassis dream. One base platform with swappable bodies. Could be an auto 7-seat fwd wagon on monday, an auto 3-seat cabover pickup on Thursday, and a manual 2-seat rwd roadster on Saturday.

5
- The sport bike and sport car check boxes for performing well, but the baby bike and shitty mini truck are a blast to row through the gears on in double-digit speeds and half the gas. For all intents and purposes I’m pretending those two are race vehicles while being far from it with their US-highway shortcomings.
  
  But there's purpose to moving through the gears on the baby bike and shitty mini truck: You're extracting the most performance from the hardware.
  
  Imagine for a moment you could still do that on those vehicles but that the performance would be worse if you do. Would you still do it?
  
  3

Maybe it would be more engaging to drive, but it's just more expense and more to go wrong.

9

I'm counting down the days honestly. I prefer small manual hatchbacks and nobody's making them. Had to sell my fiesta when we moved and even though I miss it, I'll never buy ford again.

In the meantime though, while I'm waiting for these magical shifting EVs, I grabbed a 2001 Honda insight. Older ones had a manual option. 61mpg.

5

This is completely unsurprising to me. It is just like how focus groups wanted "gear shifts" on CVTs because the more efficient steady RPM was disconcerting to them. Yes it feels like delaying the inevitable but sometimes the general public needs to be gently transitioned (yes I know all of this is refuted by the success of gearbox-less EVs).

3

It also has fake engine noise 🙄 https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/15/23762020/electric-ev-manual-transmission-fake-noise-toyota-lexus

1

I could see this being very useful, as electric motors are usually less efficient at higher speed and they generate more heat (more cooling required). So using a transmission that enables lower motor rpm at highway speeds could potentially mean longer highway range, if the transmission is light and efficient enough of course

-5

Except that it doesn't. The actual gear ratio is determined by the software for optimal performance and the shifting merely controls the car audio system and modulates the electric motors to jolt or regeneratively brake to simulate the drag of a physical transmission box. If anything, the motors will be acting in a non-efficient way to simulate the effects of non-optimal manual transmission hijinks, as tested by the author (much to his enjoyment).

Personally, I disabled the "V8 sound" Ford stupidly pipes into the cab of its V6 trucks. I bought the thing because the cab is so quite, not so I could get fake engine noise to make my penis appear larger. Not that there's anything wrong with it, it's just not the experience I'm looking for in an automobile. To each his or her own. More than 99% of the time I want a vehicle where I put in the destination and then ignore it for the rest of my trip. I get the appeal - I learned on a stick and I'm cheap enough that I rent manual cars overseas - I just don't share the need for it; at least not enough to pay extra to have it as a cosmetic add on.

9
- Lol pumping in the V8 sound into a vehicle without one is a thing?
  
  What kind of insecure person would use this "feature?"
  
  "Damn, Tony, that thing got a V8?"
  
  "Nope but it sure sounds like it!"
  
  4
- As a manual lover and daily driver this is nuts and pointless. Downshifting in a ice car doesn't do the same thing as applying the breaks and in fact as the driver if u think it is slowing the engine but it is applying the breaks instead that is dangerous.
  
  0
- So many people who either didn't read the article, or didn't understand it.
  
  0
Perhaps but this is a fake transmission. Basically an engine & manual transmission simulator.

I admire the execution and no doubt it is more fun than being without. It seems weird and impractical too. For now I have a car with a manual trans but maybe one day I will be glad for having such an option in an EV. Or maybe I will think it is silly. I'm kind of confused in the feelings department right now lol.

5
- indeed, I don't feel like I'm contributing in any automatic but having a fake gear shifter would feel worse I suspect.
  
  0