The manual transmission is an endangered species, and the proliferation of EVs (at least, until recently) probably means the end is near. Or is it? Last week, both Toyota and Subaru published patents for systems that promise to simulate the experience of driving a manual transmission as accurately as possible, even in EVs that don’t have an actual transmission.
We first noticed this development by Subaru spotted by CarBuzz. But we’ve seen something like this before from Toyota, who has been showing off a custom “manual” Lexus UX 300e since 2022. Evo got to drive it at the time, and it sure looks and sounds like a genuine manual car. (The aftermarket drag race tachometer, fully functional, on the dashboard of a luxury Lexus is also quite amusing.) InsideEVs got to try it in 2023, and former Jalop Patrick George described the experience:
This UX mule has a custom six-speed that feels similar to a GR Corolla’s gearbox with tight, short shifts and a deep, vaguely six-cylinder-ish bespoke engine sound they cooked up just for this project. I work my way through the gears just like on a gas car, straining to keep it under 100 kph like the developers asked, because I’m having so much fun and wanted to go fast. But sure enough, the answer is yes—the setup really does feel like a true manual. With my eyes focused on the track ahead and my ears full of whatever that engine was, I momentarily forget I’m in an EV.
How’d they do that?
Getting an electric car to drive like a gas guzzler with a manual isn’t as easy as slapping on a shifter and clutch pedal. The EV’s power delivery is significantly altered through programming described in Toyota’s patent. An electric motor can deliver maximum power at all times, but the program limits the torque to curves based on “gear” and speed, reminiscent of a gas engine. It also limits how fast the car will go in each “gear,” forcing you to “upshift” to go faster. We may not like fake engine noises, but in this case they actually add to the experience.
The program replicates all the details, including some of the more annoying parts about driving a manual. Subaru’s patent contribution is what it calls the “jackrabbit start suppression device,” which is a fancy way of saying it will “stall” the car if you dump the clutch pedal. It also requires you to hold the clutch pedal down before you can start the car. There is no practical use for this in an EV. It just recreates the stick shift experience.
Perhaps the best part of this system is that the driver can disable it and return to driving an EV with no gears at any time. That means if you’re enjoying rowing your own virtual gears but run into stop-and-go traffic, you can simply flip a switch and not have to wear out your left leg crawling through traffic too slow to maintain first gear. (I wish I could’ve done that when I commuted in the Boston area.) Once clear, you can resume manual mode and it’s as if the clutch never left, even though it was never really there in the first place.
But why, though?
Some readers are probably agreeing with Dr. Ian Malcolm when he said, “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.” An EV is point and shoot, no gear changes, and all power all the time. Any change from that makes an EV’s performance worse. Why would anyone want to do that?
Because it’s fun! Sometimes reducing performance in certain ways can actually make a car better, like the earlier Miata’s soft stock suspension that lets you really feel weight transfer and what the car is doing, or putting on less grippy tires so you can drift like a madman. Providing a driving experience in EVs that we already cherish in our increasingly rare manual transmission cars may become a good reason to make the switch.
Plus, the technology could go into any EV, not just a limited-production sports car. Toyota’s test mule is a luxury crossover, which would never get a manual in real life but can now get the “manual” it deserves. Even better, you won’t have to give up driving a “manual” because your spouse doesn’t know how to drive one. They can drive the same car in automatic mode while you keep using all three pedals. While EVs may one day bring an end to the manual transmission, the experience can not only be preserved, but made available to anyone who wants it, regardless of what they drive.
