A few days ago, a manual transmission patent developed by Toyota for electric vehicles was exposed. The patent is intended to simulate the exclusive manual shift mode of fuel vehicles on electric vehicles to increase the handling pleasure of electric vehicles.
As we all know, manual transmissions will be on the verge of extinction with the advent of the electric era. Toyota, however, has a different idea. While the company is firmly embracing future electric vehicles, such as the bZ4X, the company has filed eight patents in the U.S., indicating that it will provide a simulated manual transmission for future electric vehicles.
The patents, which first appeared on the BZ forum and filed in the summer of 2021, cover a variety of technologies, including simulated clutch pedals, simulated shifts, and a method that simulates torque flow interruptions for driving traditional manual combustion engine cars.
Here is an excerpt from one of the patents:
"Electric vehicles include shift levers and clutch pedals to simulate manual transmission models... The driver selects a gear in multiple simulated gears by operating the gear shift lever... The system calculates and simulates the corresponding power of the engine and can display the virtual engine speed. ”
The patents suggest that Toyota, equipped with the system, will offer three different models. One requires the driver to use both the clutch and the gear lever, while the other does not require the clutch. Toyota believes that clutches can be useful when parking, reversing, or getting stuck in traffic. In the third mode, neither the clutch nor the shift lever is required.
The patent suggests that in the third mode, these actions will be handled automatically by the system, so the car will behave like an automatic fuel car, rather than a traditional fixed-ratio electric car. That could mean the system will be reserved for driver-centric, high-performance cars, such as the future SUPRA. As the picture above shows, you'll even get a fake tachometer with a scale that looks like a fuel car.
If all of this sounds a bit familiar, you might think of Toyota's 2017 GR HV concept. The car is essentially an electrified hard-top convertible GT86 that allows the driver to unlock the traditional H-shaped gear by pressing a button hidden under the cover at the top of the gear lever. Although it was just a show car, it is now clear that Toyota is really serious about saving the manual.