Toyota has built an EV with a fake transmission, and we’ve driven it
Toyota has built an EV with a fake transmission, and we’ve driven it
Five minutes behind the wheel, and you'll be a believer.
It sounds bizarre but I want to try it.
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I don't think I like it. No judgement for others but I don't like cars with fake vents and I'm sure I won't like cars with fake transmissions.
I think there is value in a transmission in EVs. While they don't really need under gears they do need overdrive to get better highway mileage. And I imagine if we put weaker engines we could use under gears to get the performance with less of a power drain.
Some cars first gear is over 3:1 while others it's closer to 2:1.
Porsche Taycan has a two speed gearbox, primarily so it can cruise at autobahn speeds without impacting acceleration. Efficiency benefits only work if the extra weight of the gearbox and transmission losses aren't more than the range gained .
https://www.wired.com/story/electric-car-two-speed-transmission-gearbox/
This is what I was imagining to start with!
You won't gain anything meaningful from an overdrive with electric motors, they don't need to be kept in a small rpm band to not lose efficiency
Overdrive puts the engine in a lower RPM band which would save the battery I feel like. Plus a few cars have em.
Electric motors don’t like low rpm’s. You’ll end up using more battery as the torque requirement to move the taller gear set is higher.
So a small high RPM motor that doesn't have a lot of torque and needs higher gear ratios to make up for it but uses less electricity in trade is out?
Seems silly to me.
So it’s just how electricity works. With an ICE engine you have a powerband, and the individual gears solve the issue of power and efficiency.
CVTs also solve this issue by putting the ICE motor at peak rpm efficiency for the task. Eventually with an ICE motor the rpm’s can only go so low or else you’ll lug the motor introducing extra heat and pressure that will blow it up.
Back to electric, what happens when you turn a switch on in a room to power a light or fan? Why are fan settings 0-3-2-1 and not 0-1-2-3?
It’s because motors are designed to come on at full power to overcome mass. If you were to introduce a taller gear set like an ICE motor, even at higher speed, you’re introducing the motor to higher resistance than the voltage can overcome so it puts extra stress on the electric motor which in turn increases the amperage.
This will consume more power, and create excess heat, thus lowering efficiency. Not to mention the vehicle has to overcome drag and air resistance and the extra weight of this new drivetrain on an already heavy vehicle.
Now, that’s not to say it isn’t impossible or impractical, but there’s no real efficiency to be gained since electric motors maintain same or similar efficiency across all ranges.
That all makes sense except why do some EVs have real gears? I feel like Porsche probably knows what they're doing when they put one in theirs.
Theirs unfortunately has no efficiency benefit. There’s two motors in the taycan, front and back.
Front motor is single speed, and once the car hits 62mph it shifts to second in the rear motor only.
The taycan is all about being fast, not efficient.
Maybe that's the use for a transmission then? Like CPU cores, efficiency cores and performance cores? Dunno, not an expert here. I do think what we think now is unlikely to be what we think as the technology matures and gets reinvented.
Yes, in reviews and media documents it is mentioned the Taycan has the second gear to be able to maintain Autobahn level speeds. It’s not explicitly mentioned, but Porsche won’t outright confirm efficiency last I looked, so even they don’t think it helps range. Just speed.
But it’s not that there isn’t efficiency to be gained, it’s just so small it’s not worth it. In order for even a 2 speed ev, the shift point would need to be approximately 70-80mph to realize efficiency gains.
That’s just not something that’s done with EV’s. Most are city centric, and even if you are driving 70-80mph in an EV, you’re hitting peak efficiency of the motor anyways. It’s a bell curve, so it’ll only start to taper off not drop like a cliff. Although, the one side might drop faster due to how resistance works.
My wife's EV peak efficiency seems to be 45mph give or take. That's where we get the most range. If we do a lot of local driving or a lot of interstate driving we get less range it seems.
I don't know nearly enough about this subject and appreciate the back and forth, I just feel like that problem can be solved better than it is today and feel like there might be a place for a transmission.
Though in the end this whole thing started by hating "fake" transmissions as much as fake vents on cars. My taste isn't global and I don't think everyone should think like I do. Though I do love manuals and would love a real reason for a manual on an EV. My car is amazing but as a gas car I know an EV version (once they get better batteries for lower weight) is solved would be really compelling but I don't want to lose the manual.
I get that it might not be realistic but it's part of my view on why I lean the way I do. Just trying to paint a picture of my mindset.
It also has fake engine noise 🙄 https://www.theverge.com/2023/6/15/23762020/electric-ev-manual-transmission-fake-noise-toyota-lexus
Fords been doing it for a long time already, emulate engine noise through the speakers to make it sound peppier.
They also put plastic tubing and piping to direct the exhaust in the noisiest way possible. I remember when I heard they were doing the sound thing it was in conjunction with a plastic motor component that was effectively shaped like a saxophone that was supposed to produce a superior engine sound.
Intake manifold, but yes.
That's not even just an EV thing. Multiple cars like the golf R or even some ford mustangs use a way to amplify or create engine noises for the driver. Wiki page
I hate that too!
I've seen a few gas cars that do that and videos that talk about how to disable it. I feel like I'd rather just a better exhaust. My car has a variable exhaust that overrides my choice at lower speeds and it annoys me.
Fake engine noise is important for safety reasons. If people can't hear cars, there are far more incidents. A lot of time and effort has gone into sound design for electric vehicles so people can hear when they're accelerating, slowing down, etc.
The systems they’re talking about are sounds played over the stereo for people inside the car to think the engine is louder/sportier than it is. Pedestrians don’t hear it at all. I unplugged mine at the dealer before I ever turned the car on and have never been disappointed by the actual sound of the engine.
There is a small use case. If the vehicle was so well insulated you couldn’t hear the engine from inside, being able to hear the engine rev up and down would be beneficial for the driver.
That is not the case with my car. It is already legitimately sporty and the engine makes plenty of noise. Ford just decided to “enhance” it.