Toyota patents manual transmission for electric cars

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 Toyota – the world’s best-selling car maker – could revive the manual gearbox for electric cars. 

The prevalence of three-pedal transmissions has declined significantly in recent years due to changing market demands and the improved efficiency of torque-converter automatics. In 2021 it's believed approximately five per cent of passenger cars sold in Australia had a manual, down from almost 30 per cent two decades earlier.

However, new patents filling from Japan reveal preliminary plans to resurrect the technology for zero-emission vehicles. Electric vehicles generally do not require gears due to their instant torque and the nature of their power band, however the recently-uncovered designs attempt to replicate the experience of driving a traditional petrol car with a manual transmission for enthusiasts.

"This is a technique for producing a pseudo shift change in a vehicle that transmits torque to wheels from a drive motor," the document says.

"The torque can be controlled by controlling the applied voltage and magnetic field ... Thus, an uncomfortable feeling given to a driver familiar with a vehicle equipped with a stepped transmission is suppressed."

The existence of intellectual-property filings and patents does not guarantee a particular design or technology is due to go into production, however the documents do suggest Toyota is exploring the possibility of broader applications.