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Toyota has built an EV with a fake transmission, and we’ve driven it
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 31 Oct 2023
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I could see this being very useful, as electric motors are usually less efficient at higher speed and they generate more heat (more cooling required). So using a transmission that enables lower motor rpm at highway speeds could potentially mean longer highway range, if the transmission is light and efficient enough of course
Except that it doesn't. The actual gear ratio is determined by the software for optimal performance and the shifting merely controls the car audio system and modulates the electric motors to jolt or regeneratively brake to simulate the drag of a physical transmission box. If anything, the motors will be acting in a non-efficient way to simulate the effects of non-optimal manual transmission hijinks, as tested by the author (much to his enjoyment).
Personally, I disabled the "V8 sound" Ford stupidly pipes into the cab of its V6 trucks. I bought the thing because the cab is so quite, not so I could get fake engine noise to make my penis appear larger. Not that there's anything wrong with it, it's just not the experience I'm looking for in an automobile. To each his or her own. More than 99% of the time I want a vehicle where I put in the destination and then ignore it for the rest of my trip. I get the appeal - I learned on a stick and I'm cheap enough that I rent manual cars overseas - I just don't share the need for it; at least not enough to pay extra to have it as a cosmetic add on.
Lol pumping in the V8 sound into a vehicle without one is a thing?
What kind of insecure person would use this "feature?"
"Damn, Tony, that thing got a V8?"
"Nope but it sure sounds like it!"
The reviewer in this article would be one of those people. He got excited by the sound of revving the engine and hearing the result of shifting gears - and he knew it was just an audio effects track. But, also, have you seen (or listened to) men (it's always men) who drone on about their V8 full size pick up trucks? It's absolutely a thing. Don't get me wrong - I like the look of my truck - but I'd be just as happy with an electric F150 that threw a flat 600 ft-lbs of torque and was dead silent. I just want the acceleration and cargo capacity on mountain interstates.
So many people who either didn't read the article, or didn't understand it.
I admit I didn't really have the time to read it
As a manual lover and daily driver this is nuts and pointless. Downshifting in a ice car doesn't do the same thing as applying the breaks and in fact as the driver if u think it is slowing the engine but it is applying the breaks instead that is dangerous.
Perhaps but this is a fake transmission. Basically an engine & manual transmission simulator.
I admire the execution and no doubt it is more fun than being without. It seems weird and impractical too. For now I have a car with a manual trans but maybe one day I will be glad for having such an option in an EV. Or maybe I will think it is silly. I'm kind of confused in the feelings department right now lol.
indeed, I don't feel like I'm contributing in any automatic but having a fake gear shifter would feel worse I suspect.