An electric car with a manual transmission? Lexus wants to make it possible. At least it seems possible. A Japanese company owned by Toyota is working on a new technology that will allow emulate the behavior of a manual transmission in an electric carto create a feeling similar to that which occurs when driving a car with an internal combustion engine.
Clearly, the key word in this story is “imitate”. After all, Lexus did not develop a manual transmission for its future electric vehicles, but a system that It seems that cars are endowed. How it works? Nothing more, nothing less than software.
Takashi Watanabe, chief engineer at Lexus Electrified, said the technology will change the driver’s experience. “On the outside, this car is as quiet as any other electric car. But the driver is able to experience all the sensations of a car with a manual transmission,” he explained.
According to Australian media Drive, Lexus is already testing a “manual transmission” on a modified UX300e.. In the following video, you can briefly see the luxury SUV that implements this new technology.
The Lexus technology is still under development, so it is not known when it will reach users (if it finally appears) and in what models.
Lexus wants to produce electric cars with manual transmission
Watanabe also explained that, being a software solution, the idea is to offer customers the ability to emulate the gearbox behavior of different manual transmission vehicles. So, for example, users can arrange for power to be delivered with a slight delay, as is the case with turbocharged vehicles. Or that the answer is more like a sports car from Lexus, among other options.
Keep in mind that the system developed by Lexus includes more than just a gear selector that behaves like a normal car. It also introduces a clutch pedal and tachometer to complete the package..
On the one hand, it’s interesting. But on the other hand, this is still a trick that, as it were, wants to cling to the old elements of the automotive industry without the need. Not to mention, this makes it unnecessarily difficult to develop an electric vehicle due to the number of units it carries. Lexus even claims that your system is extremely realistic. To the extent that if the driver releases the clutch incorrectly when engaging first gear, the car may stall.
Since the brand has a history of building luxury cars, it’s likely that the Japanese could get away with integrating this technology into a model. However, the “manual transmission” Lexus today is not so far from what brands allow. mimic the sound of an internal combustion engine on their electric vehicles.
Lexus Electrified Chief Engineer stated that the only thing they didn’t imitate was the smell of fuel. Although in this case, Ford could get ahead of them. Let’s not forget that in 2021, the American automaker released a fragrance based on the smell of gasoline. It was exclusive to buyers of the Mustang Mach-E GT, an electric SUV with sporty features.
Source: Hiper Textual
