Toyota’s intention of building an electric car with a manual gearbox is more than just a pipe dream, it seems – the Japanese brand has already built a prototype for testing.
Excitement is building amongst enthusiasts around the idea of the world’s biggest car brand developing tech that aims to keep driving engaging and fun into the future – but what Toyota is working on isn’t as simple as a sports car with a manual gearbox.
Still, Toyota’s recent CEO Akio Toyoda was testing a prototype this week, signifying that the brand might actually intend on implementing a manual EV.
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The brand has submitted patents for a system which involves a ‘pseudo-gearshift’ and ‘pseudo-clutch pedal’, the names of which give some clue to just how the system works.
Effectively, the driver is presented with a standard manual layout from inside the car, with a third pedal and a standard manual shifter, but everything that happens under the surface is, in a way, fictitious.
The patent document describes in tedious detail how the system operates, but it’s essentially a standard electric car with programming to make it behave like it has a mechanical manual gearbox.
The ‘clutch’ pedal when pressed electronically prevents the accelerator from doing its job as if an actual clutch has disengaged, while the gear shifter works in tandem with a fabricated ‘engine speed’ to apply torque for the electric motors as if in each different gear.
“You hear the engine noise inside the car and you have a manual transmission with a clutch,” Toyoda told Automotive News at the 24 Hours of Le Mans after having test driven a prototype.
“You truly do not notice you are driving an electric car, the only thing missing is the smell of gasoline.”
The idea of an electric, manual sports car comes from Toyoda’s replacement, Koji Sato, former Lexus boss and now CEO of Toyota.
“It’s a hobby of mine, a crazy thing,” he told Top Gear last year, when he was CEO of Lexus, when speaking about his work on a manual EV.
“I’m looking for better engagement,” he continued. “Even in an EV, I want another link from the car to the driver. It’s not just about efficiency. I love cars and want something different.
“It uses the general knowledge of the LFA, but we want to express it in contemporary form. We want to express the excitement of the LFA in an electric vehicle. That’s the challenge we face.”
Sato has also recently expressed very strong interest in another pet project, the revival of the Toyota Celica, which could end up being part of the manual EV exploration.
A Toyota insider earlier this year told Japanese motoring magazine Best Car that Sato was “serious” about reviving the model name after he had mentioned it at the All Japan Rally Championship.
“If we were to start now, it would be a BEV sports coupe,” the insider told Best Car.
“A modern updated design would be powerful, while adding the image of the Celica of yesteryear.”
Whether the first the Celica or something more like the LFA becomes the car to ‘go manual’ as an EV – if it happens at all – is yet to be seen, but what’s clear is Toyota is taking a very different approach to electrification. We’ll find out whether that’s a good thing soon enough.
Keyword: GR in the EV age: Is the Toyota Celica sports car coming back as a manual electric car?