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Toyota patents plans for EV with manual transmission and clutch

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11–20 of 267 posts

Re: Toyota patents plans for EV with manual transmission and clutch

#11
post #6

I suppose I'm not the target market for this. To me this is just added complexity that increases cost and likelihood of something breaking. I'm still waiting for someone to make a "battery on wheels", an electric car with no extra bells and whistles. I think it could end up being so cheap to own, and also extremely reliable, since electric cars need no transmissions, and almost no maintenance of any kind for that mat…

This comes up in every HN EV thread. Why not convert a mid 20th century car to EV?

For one, safety issues. Conversions only make sense when you want to have some kind of exotic classic, and then make it even more exotic with your custom powertrain.

Re: Toyota patents plans for EV with manual transmission and clutch

#12
post #3

Funny that it's coming from the same Toyota that puts CVTs with no discrete gear steps in their gas cars and doesn't try to hide it...

It's also the same Toyota that did the Yaris GR, so they know a thing or two about manuals. They've always done what just works, for the target car.

Hell, the CVT in the Yaris can actually feel good, it's relatively responsive and gives a linear push (when the electric engine is charged, going on pure ICE is hell). You just have to enjoy the BRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Re: Toyota patents plans for EV with manual transmission and clutch

#14
post #6

I suppose I'm not the target market for this. To me this is just added complexity that increases cost and likelihood of something breaking. I'm still waiting for someone to make a "battery on wheels", an electric car with no extra bells and whistles. I think it could end up being so cheap to own, and also extremely reliable, since electric cars need no transmissions, and almost no maintenance of any kind for that mat…

This comes up in every HN EV thread. Why not convert a mid 20th century car to EV?

No air bags, seat belts, crumple zones, etc...

Re: Toyota patents plans for EV with manual transmission and clutch

#15
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comes up in every HN EV thread. Why not convert a mid 20th century car to EV?

No air bags, seat belts, crumple zones, etc...

Not exactly a battery on wheels. I don't see the middle ground between "no smarts" and "enough smarts to keep me safe". If you want a backup camera, blindspot radar, rollover protection, and A-pillar airbags then you could just buy a new EV. Is a touchscreen you don't need to touch an issue?

Re: Toyota patents plans for EV with manual transmission and clutch

#16

Seems very similar to paddle shifters in a gas CVT. There's no mechanical connection between the "clutch peddle" and "shifter" to the actual transmission, it is all just fed into a computer and a simulation is created to give the driver a warm fizzy feeling. If this makes people feel better during the transitional phase, I guess that counts for something, but this is a manual car simulation only.

My Current car does this when the the petrol engine kicks in (Hybrid with CVT), it does a tiny bit of "gear simulation" with the engine if you floor it and it uses the petrol engine together with the electric one and it adds a bit more of fake engine sound though the speakers to make it more obvious.

Strange thing is they chose to only have "three gears", no matter at what speed you do it the max is two shifts.

Not that it matters a lot, the shift in revs is not too much and if it gets petrol loving people into hybrid vehicles I'm OK with that.

Re: Toyota patents plans for EV with manual transmission and clutch

#18

It is not the first time when product simulates imperfections of the past technology to make product more authentic in customers eyes. Film color,lenses defects, lots of "analog" audio effects and now cars.

I think it is kind of funny to come across video games that have crazy lens flare. I assume that is to give them cinematic feel rather than some nostalgic anachronism, but this reminds me of that too?

Re: Toyota patents plans for EV with manual transmission and clutch

#19
post #6

I suppose I'm not the target market for this. To me this is just added complexity that increases cost and likelihood of something breaking. I'm still waiting for someone to make a "battery on wheels", an electric car with no extra bells and whistles. I think it could end up being so cheap to own, and also extremely reliable, since electric cars need no transmissions, and almost no maintenance of any kind for that mat…

This comes up in every HN EV thread. Why not convert a mid 20th century car to EV?

A skateboard-style BEV sees significant benefits in crash performance from the battery, that's not something you get with hybrid platforms ("ICE and also BEV on the same platform") or conversions. Crash performance in cars has in general massively benefited from the trifecta of more stringent requirements, better processes and more compute in the last two or so decades.

Re: Toyota patents plans for EV with manual transmission and clutch

#20
I can't decide whether this is dumber than Dodge making a huge deal about how their new EV Dodge Charger (car not car-charger, oh my god, what a branding screw up) makes authentic loud V8 noises, but they're definitely both stupid. Can we just fast forward to the future where EVs glide around silently and people look both ways before crossing the road?
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