Driving pleasure rises sharply Toyota applies for patent for manual transmission of electric vehicles

As the big brother in the automotive industry, Toyota did not have a very good impression of electric vehicles in the early days. Toyota's CEO Akio Toyoda has repeatedly stated in public that he is resistant to new energy vehicles and even refused to sign the Glasgow Climate Agreement.

In fact, if we think about it carefully, there is nothing wrong with Akio Toyoda's approach. After all, Toyota is a leader in the integrated automotive industry, and new energy vehicles will be a brand new track, which is equivalent to bringing all new and old car companies in the world back to the starting line.

This new track is of course a good thing for new entrants into the automotive industry, but for established car companies, this track will have an unparalleled impact on them. It means consumption and change.

However, as time went by, Japan introduced a plan to ban the sale of fuel vehicles, which caused strong dissatisfaction among Toyota's Akio Toyoda, but also made him understand that new energy is a trend and an inevitability. In this plan, it is clearly stated that in 10 years, all new cars sold in Japan will be converted into hybrid vehicles and pure electric vehicles.

In fact, Akio Toyoda is not a person who does not strive for progress. If he did not strive for progress, he would not have fought against the conservatives of the Toyota Group, and would not have personally created the TNGA innovative concept (Toyota New Global Architecture). As the fourth-generation grandson of the Toyota family, the responsibilities he needs to bear are beyond the imagination of each of us. Every decision he makes will affect thousands of people, and every instruction he gives may ruin the world's leading automobile company.

At present, Toyota's transformation came from the famous "Evergrande-style" press conference. At that press conference, Akio Toyoda, as the CEO of Toyota, launched 16 new cars in one go. He also announced that Toyota and Lexus will launch 30 pure electric vehicles by 2030.

It is worth mentioning that this press conference was held exactly one month after Akio Toyoda refused to sign the Glasgow Climate Agreement.

If Toyota's exploration into the electric vehicle field came from its early cooperation with CATL and BYD, then this press conference is Toyota's way of expressing its attitude to the world.

Recently, Toyota applied for eight patents to the US Patent and Trademark Office. These patents are more or less related to the technology of new energy vehicles, including simulated clutch pedal, simulated gear shifting, and a method of interrupting the torque flow of a simulated driving traditional manual internal combustion engine car.

To sum up, this patent is a manual transmission patent that Toyota has applied for specifically for electric vehicles.

In fact, there are electric cars with manual transmission, such as the BYD e3 driving test version and the Dongfeng Fukang e Elysee, but such models are very rare because the so-called manual transmission does not perform very well in electric cars and is basically useless except for causing trouble.

Toyota's move this time seems quite high-end as it applied for a patent, but in fact, this patent is not very technical.

This patent will provide three different manual transmission driving modes.

The first one: It will be no different from a traditional fuel-powered manual transmission car, requiring the driver to operate the clutch and the gear lever at the same time.

The second method: directly operate the gear lever without using the clutch.

The third method: No clutch and gear lever are required.

I believe everyone understands the first two driving modes very well, but what does the third driving mode mean? In fact, the third driving mode is that the car itself brings you a gear shifting driving experience, like a push-back feeling, and this driving experience does not require any operation from you, just normal driving is fine.

Summarize

Although this patent provides three different driving modes, don’t forget that electric cars don’t have gearboxes. The so-called driving modes and manual transmissions basically don’t have much effect on the car. However, when you switch to manual transmission driving mode, this technology can pause the output power of the motor, so that you can feel the glide after pressing the clutch. And there will be a sense of frustration when downshifting.

In fact, in China, manual transmission is not very friendly to drivers who often have to go through traffic jams. Infinite semi-clutch starts are really tiring. I believe that if this technology is truly used, consumers will pay for the driving pleasure.