Add Honda's name to those of carmakers working on developing a manual gearbox for electric vehicles. The Drive reports that a company engineer spoke about the plan at a Honda event in Japan about the company's next wave of EVs, models that will fall under the 0 (zero) series.
The manual gearbox developed by Honda works with software that controls the electric powertrain to simulate the sensation of shifting gears.
The source did not say whether there were any plans to put this technology into production. And therein lies the big question. Electric motors don't have multi-speed transmissions. Typically, there is one speed, and in rare cases, a second for very high speeds. Will buyers want to choose a simulated manual?
Fact is, while it may add some pleasure to the driving experience, software simulating gear shifts doesn't add anything in terms of efficiency. Some will argue that it complicates the driving operation, which is pretty straightforward with an electric vehicle. And in terms of performance and especially acceleration, there would be no gain.
What could be interesting would be to have a third pedal, if required, and at the touch of a button, the model could switch from one transmission mode to another. You could then activate the manual gearbox on a nice winding road, for example.
This is just speculation on our part, as we try to see what might make this technology attractive.
Toyota has also developed a manual gearbox for electric vehicles. The Japanese auto giant's design also simulates gear changes. Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 N SUV offers simulated gear changes, but there's no clutch pedal to make it all work.
