Yahoo Autos Lexus confirms development of a manual transmission on Electrified Sports flagship
In February, unearthed patent filings indicated that Toyota might be working on a manual transmission for electric vehicles. It seemed rather far-fetched, and as we know many patented ideas never actually make it into production. However Toyota — or rather, its Lexus luxury performance division — is seriously working on this, as the company confirmed during a conference in Europe.
The system uses a physical gear shift, tachometer and third pedal. We hesitate to call it a clutch pedal because it's not actually connected to a clutch. Of course an EV wouldn't have a gearbox with actual gears and synchros, either. Everything is simulated via software.
Takashi Watanabe, chief engineer of Lexus Electrified, described it as a "simulated drive force map with pedal and shift positions to reproduce the feeling of a manual transmission." It's so realistic, though, that the driver even faces the possibility of stalling the car or rolling backwards on a hill start. And since the system is governed by ones and zeroes, each driver can choose their preferred "gearing" without having to swap out cogs of varying ratios.
