New bottles of old wine, Toyota applied for a manual transmission electric vehicle patent

Written by / Ma Xiaolei

Edit/Windsor

Design / Shi Yuchao

Source/Roadandtrack, by FRED SMITH

A few months ago, watch brand IWC released a video ad. In the short film, Kurt Klaus, a master watchmaker, walks into a smartwatch store and engages in an electronic and mechanical collision by talking to the clerk.

The same is true of cars. Remote updates, interconnection of people and cars, the car has gradually evolved from a mechanical product to an electronic product.

Pure electric vehicles do not require gear transmissions, because automatic transmission technology has occupied the market with lightning speed, coupled with the electrification of cars in recent years, manual transmission cars have almost become endangered models.

If electric vehicles are fully popularized one day, will manually operated cars disappear along with fuel vehicles?

However, not everyone is accustomed to the "fool" experience brought by electrification and full automation, and in the eyes of some people, the sense of control and driving engagement brought by manual transmission cars is irreplaceable.

iPhones have changed from rounded edges back to right-angle edges, and some people have begun to miss manual transmissions. They believe that sacrificing this car element, which is the most engaged driving and the most embodies the unity of people and vehicles, will be a big loss for the automotive industry.

What if a manual car enthusiast can't stop the charm of electric vehicles and the magic of manual transmission?

Soon, they won't have to be in this dilemma.

On February 10, Toyota filed eight new patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which were pieced together to present an electric vehicle manual transmission simulator. It uses a "pseudo-shift lever" to simulate gear shifting, using motor torque to simulate the speed on the dashboard.

To provide the most realistic driving feel of a manual transmission car, the system also provides a "pseudo-clutch pedal" that simulates the physical pressure to give the driver a clutch-like foot feeling, and even uses a flywheel to simulate the vehicle stalling.

This outlines a manual electric vehicle. The patent shows that this manual electric vehicle can switch between "standard mode" and "manual mode" driving mode at will.

Will it be the manual electric car you imagine?

In the world of fuel vehicles, automatic cars are more fuel-intensive than manual cars, but this problem does not exist in the field of electric vehicles.

Toyota says its latest patented system is designed to provide electric vehicles with a feel for manual vehicles to drive, without the hassle of manually driving.

So the question arises: does this new "invention" only superficially simulate the feel of a manual transmission, or does it really improve the driving feel of the vehicle?

Some media believe that the answer to this question may not be revealed until the vehicle is put into production, but there is no clear practical application of the technology.

Some media also believe that this technology is only to simulate the feeling of driving a manual transmission car, retain more of the sense of control of the vehicle, and should not optimize the performance more.

At the same time, according to Ford's newly registered patent, the American company has also designed a new manual transmission, only need to change the lever, no clutch, it seems that the electric vehicle market will usher in a wave of more fierce competition.