Lexus, Toyota’s luxury performance brand, has confirmed building electric cars with manual transmissions, as reported by Auto Blog. The Japanese automotive brand strives to “reinvent” the EV driving experience.
“This new project all started with some Lexus engineers reflecting on what they liked about traditional [internal combustion] vehicles and what they had to miss out on with electric cars. [The] manual transmission was one thing they enjoyed in particular.”
Takashi Watanabe, Lexus Electrified’s Chief Engineer
The transmission has already been mounted on a Lexus UX300e for testing purposes. The prototype drifts through a parking lot with simulated engine revs in a short video shared by Toyota Kenshiki Forum 2022.
Interesting features
Software simulation
The manual transmission boasts a system with a physical gear shift and tachometer. Its third pedal is not directly connected to the vehicle’s clutch, which uses haptic drivers to produce a “feel.” Moreover, it is integrated with smart software and sound producers within the cabin to provide a whole experience.
Shifting gears
With this technology, drivers will be able to pick their ideal gearing without exerting much effort on changing out cogs of different ratios.
“There is nothing more engaging for a passionate driver than being able to shift gears for the right amount of torque at any time. So we thought, let’s do this.”
Takashi Watanabe, Lexus Electrified’s Chief Engineer
In fact, the hand-held camera also slightly shakes as the driver shifts gear, demonstrating that it operates similarly to a stick-shift ICE vehicle.
Acceleration
The prototype is reported to accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in just over two seconds which is interesting to see on sports cars such as the Electrified Sport.
“I cannot tell you when we will be launching a production vehicle based on the Electrified Sport. But I can confirm that we are working on it.”
Takashi Watanabe, Lexus Electrified’s Chief Engineer
In addition to all of that, Watanabe declared that the production version would also feature an all-wheel drive system, steer-by-wire, and brake-by-wire.
