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Toyota patents plans for EV with manual transmission and clutch

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

#61

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?

The Dodge Charger has been around a lot longer than EVs. It is has also recently been announced they are discontinuing the Charger as an ICE model.

> The Dodge Charger has been around a lot longer than EVs.

Per Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_Charger) the name has been around for 56 years (since 1966). Or 58 years for the "show car" version of 1964.

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

#62
This is a neat example though of how arbitrary EV drivetrains are. A Toyota marketing exec's (just guessing) FUD about imagined consumer FUD turns into, why don't we just ramp down torque in notches in relation to road speed increments? Of course anyone who buys this is going to try it once then leave it in all-the-torque-all-the-time mode, but that's not the point. I can't say I've met a single three pedal afficionado who bemoaned the lack of shifting after experiencing the mild concussion inducing levels of acceleration of some of these new EV's. If roadgoing gas cars had that kind of torque, they wouldn't shift either, just like the fastest drag cars. There's no point.

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

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a sidenote, here's a controversial opinion - electrically-powered analog clocks are silly and we should discontinue making them.

AC clocks can sync their motors to the grid frequency, making it another perfectly valid mechanism of counting time. The grid frequency is very consistent.

The operators can even intentionally speed up or slow down the grid by small amounts to re-align the # of expected cycles over periods of time.

Some prior discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24602162

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

#64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a sidenote, here's a controversial opinion - electrically-powered analog clocks are silly and we should discontinue making them.

When the power goes out, what happens to an “electrically-powered analog clock?”

That's a good point. Assuming physical dials, it'll still show the correct time twice a day, which is twice more than an unpowered digital clock ;)

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

#65

That already exists - in China . They made a vehicle like this for driving lessons - so you can pass your test in a "manual" vehicle.

I wonder if it simulates the juddery stall when you stop in gear...

Yes it does apparently.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/jalopnik.com/this-chinese-elect...

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

#66

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.

On a sidenote, here's a controversial opinion - electrically-powered analog clocks are silly and we should discontinue making them.

Analog clocks use much less power than digital clocks, by virtue of not having to continually emit light. That property may also be desirable for other reasons.

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

#67

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?

The Dodge Charger has been around a lot longer than EVs. It is has also recently been announced they are discontinuing the Charger as an ICE model.

Technically EVs predate all petrol cars, let alone the Dodge Charger https://www.caranddriver.com/features/g15378765/worth-the-wa...

> Electrobat! Is that not a great name? It belongs to the first commercially viable EV effort. Philadelphians Pedro Salom and Henry G. Morris adapted technology from battery-electric street cars and boats and got a patent in 1894. At first very heavy and slow (like a trolley car, with steel “tires” and 1600 pounds of batteries onboard), their Electrobat [at left] evolved to employ pneumatic tires and lighter materials so that, by 1896, their rear-steer carriages used two 1.1-kW motors to move 25 miles at a top speed of 20 mph. Electrobats and another electric by Riker won a series of five-mile sprint races against gasoline Duryea automobiles in 1896.

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

#68

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?

It's not all about pedestrians. Take Harley Davidson motorcycles for example. The sound is the brand. It's what people buy (into). Not saying that's right or wrong. Only that it's not strictly a pedestrian thing. Since in EVs it's more or less simulated, it would make since to have more than one setting and one of those to be off. p.s. The Dodge Charger has been ine of Dodge's most successful model. Gazillions of rec…

> Take Harley Davidson motorcycles for example. The sound is the brand.

When a significant part of your brand is noise pollution, your brand needs updating. [0]

[0] According to Autoweek, "Loud pipes save lives" is false https://www.autoweek.com/news/industry-news/a35952569/loud-p...

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

#69

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.

On a sidenote, here's a controversial opinion - electrically-powered analog clocks are silly and we should discontinue making them.

[deleted]

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

#70
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a sidenote, here's a controversial opinion - electrically-powered analog clocks are silly and we should discontinue making them.

As someone with zero sense of time, analog clocks let me use my spatial reasoning to reason about time. I am much more aware of how much time I'm spending on something with an analog clock

You piqued my curiousity here - do you mean you would think to yourself something along the lines of "I have until the minute hand goes 60 degrees further than it is now" as opposed to "I have 10 more minutes"?
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