{"id":243553,"date":"2023-10-30T16:19:24","date_gmt":"2023-10-30T16:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/?p=243553"},"modified":"2023-10-30T16:19:24","modified_gmt":"2023-10-30T16:19:24","slug":"toyotas-manual-transmission-for-electric-cars-is-already-amazing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automotobuzz.com\/car-reviews\/toyotas-manual-transmission-for-electric-cars-is-already-amazing\/","title":{"rendered":"Toyota's Manual Transmission For Electric Cars Is Already Amazing"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m sitting on the tarmac at Toyota\u2019s brand-new Technical Center Shimoyama in a red Lexus UX crossover that has a little something extra no other UX has. It\u2019s a six-speed manual transmission and a third pedal in the footwell. Making this car extra exceptional is the fact that it\u2019s a Lexus UX 300e\u2014an electric vehicle. That\u2019s right: this EV has a manual transmission.<\/p>\n

It shouldn\u2019t exist at all. It doesn\u2019t even have a name yet. But it\u2019s definitely confirmed for production, headed to some future Toyota electric vehicle you\u2019ll actually be able to buy in a few years. And it\u2019s so much more fun than I expected it to be.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I wasn’t allowed to take photos, but this past screenshot shows more or less what the interior was like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In part, I can thank the guy sitting to my left for some of that: Yoichiro Isami, a young Toyota engineer who crafted the patents for this crazy idea. He and his team have spent years developing a system that simulates the way a multi-gear transmission operated with a stick shift and clutch delivers torque from a motor to the wheels\u2014in this case, an electric motor.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always driven manual,\u201d says Isami, who later tells me he\u2019s a GR Yaris driver. \u201cBut in this electrified era, I have no vehicle I like. So I made this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He later adds with a devilish grin: \u201cWith this system, I love BEV,\u201d referring to the common Japanese acronym for a battery-electric vehicle.<\/p>\n

What happens when an engineer who\u2019s a GR Yaris guy gets a green light from his company to turn a crazy idea into a skunkworks project, and then something destined for actual, future EVs? I\u2019m about to find out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Save The Manuals, Electric Edition<\/h2>\n

The newly rechristened Japan Mobility Show was meant to show the world that that country\u2019s automakers have what it takes to compete in the EV world with a rising China and Korea, both of which have them clearly rattled as they play catch up in the electric arms race. Toyota, specifically, invited journalists from all over the world to see what their R&D departments have been up to: solid-state batteries, new in-car software applications like AI assistants, future EVs with hardware set up to open the door to the \u201cliving room on wheels\u201d concept we\u2019ve been promised so long, and much more.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

But Toyota\u2019s made a concerted effort to not be so boring over the past few years. And it\u2019s more than fair to say that until fairly recently, the company has been pretty EV-skeptical. I also get the sense that many people within it don\u2019t love the idea that so many EVs drive the same, or that the traditional car enthusiast spirit could get lost in an electric transition. Hence, when Isami and his team cooked up a way to make an EV feel like it\u2019s driving with a stick shift, I get why his higher-ups said \u201cGo nuts.\u201d If this works out, it\u2019s a killer app no other automaker will offer on its EVs. Not yet, anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>How Does This Even Work?<\/h2>\n

Obviously, it\u2019s not a real manual transmission\u2014not the way a gas car has a physical gearbox, clutch, and linkage. It\u2019s not needed here.<\/p>\n

Instead, the Toyota team cooked up an independent six-speed stick-shift unit with a sensor attached and a clutch pedal with the same. Those sensors detect the movement of those devices and then use software to artificially modulate the amount of torque the electric motor sends to the wheels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also changed the control program of the electric motor,\u201d another engineer, Tatsuya Iwamura, told us before we went out on the Shimoyama test track. \u201cYou will feel like you are driving a car with a manual transmission.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coupled with artificial engine noise delivered through the car speakers, it replicates the experience of driving an ICE car in an EV\u2014and it does this so well you might forget what\u2019s under your hood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Toyota\u2019s been at this for a while; some patents date back to 2017. We first heard real progress on it last year, and now, Toyota\u2019s engineers are making no secret of the fact that it\u2019s going into production. And it won\u2019t be on this UX; this is just a mule for the project. (Of course, they nervously demurred when I asked if it would debut on the production FT-Se, the \u201celectric MR2\u201d everyone loved at the auto show, which I heard from its chief designer.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Moreover, Toyota is cooking up other ways to make EVs more lively. Before driving the manual UX, I sampled a Lexus RZ with programmable engine sounds and more customized power delivery\u2014basically, an EV that can act and sound like a Toyota Tundra, an economy hatchback, or a Lexus LFA on demand. The engine sound on the latter car needed some work, but it\u2019s a clever idea. Now think downloadable \u201cprofiles\u201d for your EV that simulate the gas car of your choice, or even the ability to fully customize how your EV sounds and how it puts down power, almost like in a video game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Oh, and by the way\u2014that car worked the same way as this simulated manual EV, just with paddle shifters and no clutch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Skunkworks car engineers. Just the best people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>So Is It Any Good?<\/h2>\n

Because this was a development vehicle, no photos were allowed, and the only video permitted was Toyota-shot footage of me getting in and out of the car\u2014not exactly the most compelling visuals, I think we\u2019d agree. But the Lexus\u2019 interior was teeming with add-on buttons, stickers, and wires from the development team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As I line up to enter the track, I intentionally \u201cstall out\u201d the UX to see what it would do. Sure enough, a screen flashes red and I push the clutch to restart the car, just like most modern manual gas cars work. Then I \u201cshift\u201d into \u201cfirst gear\u201d and press the accelerator, and after that\u2026 wow. Just wow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gallery: Lexus LF-ZC Concept <\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

This UX mule has a custom six-speed that feels similar to a GR Corolla\u2019s gearbox with tight, short shifts and a deep, vaguely six-cylinder-ish bespoke engine sound they cooked up just for this project. I work my way through the gears just like on a gas car, straining to keep it under 100 kph like the developers asked, because I\u2019m having so much fun and wanted to go fast. But sure enough, the answer is yes\u2014the setup really does\u00a0feel like a true manual. With my eyes focused on the track ahead and my ears full of whatever that engine was, I momentarily forget I\u2019m in an EV.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The car even jerks back and forth slightly as I change gears, just like a manual gas car might. I\u2019m laughing hysterically the entire time. It even gives me the exact amount of power I\u2019d have in second or third gear, limiting the car\u2019s speeds accordingly. I get it up to fifth before Isami asks me to take it down a peg or two. Every part of this\u2014the shifting, the clutch, the noise, the movement of the car, makes me swear I\u2019m in a gas car. It even \u201cengine brakes\u201d when I downshift and lift off the throttle, and Isami tells me it can double-clutch too, though I don\u2019t get to try this.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Then Isami hits the same switch on the center console and the car goes back to BEV mode, or automatic mode. The engine sounds stop; the power delivery goes back to what I expected. It\u2019s like I wake up and come back to reality, and the Lexus is an EV again.<\/p>\n

That may be the best part of all of this: you can turn it on and off whenever you want. No more suffering through stop-and-go traffic with a stick shift. You can have all the backroad fun when you want it, and all the convenience and comfort and quiet of an EV when you want that instead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Lots Of Questions Remain, But Just Go With It<\/h2>\n

I only got two brief laps in this manual EV Lexus, but I\u2019m still smiling like Isami when I think about it. But the cynics among us will argue, what\u2019s the point of this? And they\u2019re not entirely wrong. I actually like the ability to have a room-level conversation in an EV, or to hear my music better than I ever could in a car before, or to not mess with shifting in traffic. But on the right road and under the right conditions, I love a good manual transmission.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plenty of questions remain here. What EVs will Toyota deploy this system for? What drivers would it be for? If the take rate for manuals on gas cars was so low, why would these be any better? What will it cost? Will this have any impact on the EV\u2019s electric motor? And with Toyota and other automakers putting a big emphasis on reducing and downsizing components like HVAC systems to increase interior space, where would a stick even go?\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I think there potentially will be a market, in the future, for enthusiasts willing to pay for such features on higher-end cars. It\u2019d be silly to simulate a manual transmission on an economy EV, but if Lexus is really making some kind of quasi-LFA electric supercar, I can see the appeal here.<\/p>\n

Plus, it\u2019s just fun. Driving it is fun. The guys behind it clearly had fun; this system obviously comes from a place of genuine, sincere love for the stick shift. And if Elon Musk can be hailed as a comedic genius by the Tesla faithful for making EVs with fart noises, Toyota should get a pass for making one with a six-speed manual transmission. This team reverse-engineered an anachronistic technology for EVs just because they thought it would preserve something they loved about driving. It\u2019s hard for any enthusiast to not appreciate that.<\/p>\n

If EVs are the future\u2014and I certainly think they are or I wouldn\u2019t be here\u2014the day may come someday when whole generations of drivers have zero experience with a manual transmission at all. We\u2019re very nearly at that point right now. But until that happens, it\u2019s great to see some folks like Isami and his team thinking outside the box to save the manuals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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