How open-minded are you feeling today? Pretty open? I hope so, because what I’m going to propose here will require that openness. But I think the end result will be worth it, because it could allow you to see an entire category of car in a whole new light. What if – and, again, I’m calling on your openness here – what if all-electric cars with one-speed transmissions are actually manual transmission cars?
Take a moment. Breathe. Just pause before responding, because I think you need to hear this out. Let’s just look at the facts: because of the nature of electric motors, and how they can produce all of their torque from zero RPM and up, they don’t really need the sorts of multi-speed transmissions that combustion-engine cars use. Generally, they have transmissions with one ratio, like, for example, the Tesla Model 3, which has a gearbox with a 9.03:1 ratio.
A Hyundai Ioniq 6 has a single-speed transmission with a gear ratio of 2.263:1. A Volkswagen ID4’s one-gear transmission has a ratio of 2.96:1, and so on, you get the idea. Now, you could think of these one-gear transmissions as automatic transmissions, because you put them in D and then never have to think about them again, at least not until you want to stop or go backward.
But! The whole point of an automatic transmission is that it automatically changes the gears – that’s the whole point of an automatic transmission – and in the case of these EV one-speed transmissions, they are not doing that, because there are no gears to shift into. They literally can’t change gears.
A CVT has no gears, technically, but there are computers and mechanisms still changing gear ratios automatically – that’s why a gearless CVT is still an automatic, because some force other than the driver is deciding to change the gear ratios.
Now, what if we think of these one-speed transmissions as manual transmissions? You are manually are putting the car into gear, and while you may be doing that by pushing a button or sliding a finger on some silly touchscreen control or moving some little lever on the steering column, it is still a physical, manual action that starts the process for the car to engage the motor to the gearbox. The car didn’t do this on its own; you made the decision, and you took the action to make it happen.
Now, there’s no clutch, of course, but there have been manual transmissions with automatic clutches before; think about the Volkswagen AutoStick (also called the Sportamatic when bolted into a Porsche)– that was a manual transmission with an automatic clutch, but you still had to shift it.
I made a whole video about that transmission way back:
Anyway, nobody would consider that an actually automatic transmission: it’s a manual, with an automatic clutch.
I think we can look at these EV transmissions in a similar way. The only reason we’re not shifting gears on them is because there are no more gears to shift into. But that shouldn’t exclude it from manual transmission status! Let’s say you have an old car with a screwed up transmission where only second gear works. If you got in that car, put it in second gear, and drove, that’s the same experience you’d have in an EV, getting in putting it in D, and driving, at least in terms of the gear-shifting actions you take.
So, all I’m saying is that we should be free to think of nearly all EVs as having one-speed, clutchless, manual transmissions. Is there a good reason for this? No. No, there isn’t. In fact, it’s pretty stupid, if we’re honest. But it somehow feels more fun. Think about how much better it’ll feel when you end up owning some EV, but you can somehow satiate your old-school gearhead urges by reminding yourself that at least you still drive a manual.
A one-speed manual with no clutch you never have to shift and feels for all the world like an automatic. But still a manual.
Because, again, in these one-speed transmissions, the driver still chooses what gear to go into. Always.
That’s a manual transmission.
Okay, now you can call me an idiot in the comments, or – and I encourage you to at least consider this plan – join me. This way, we can keep manual transmissions alive! Sort of.
Yep! I said the same thing a long time ago…
I have no issue with this assessment. Also reverse is accomplished with the motor for all those talking about “changing gears with a touch screen” and it’s a fixed ratio – closer to a manual mechanically than any other type of transmission.
Who needs shifting?
“Little Nash Rambler” lyrics – “his car pulled upside of me as if I were going slow, the guy rolled down his window, and yelled for me to hear ‘Hey buddy, how do you get this car out of second gear!”
I’m with Brian of Regular Car Reviews on this one: “NO CLUTCH PEDAL = NOT A MANUAL. BURRRP. REAL FART.”
I don’t think I will be putting a Save the manuals sticker on my EV6.
Okay – but…
You’re not using a lever to change the transmission(s) setting(s) from forward to reverse by hand.
(Plural if you have a dual-drive – because the two motors are not mechanically connected and they each have their own gear sets)
You’re pushing a button. On a screen.
Or the car is making the decision for you without any intervention on your part at all.
And a servo somewhere is changing the setting(s) within the transmission(s).
That’s an Automatic.
I can agree so far as I have in the past described driving an EV as being like driving a manual that is always in the “right” gear basically meaning there’s no delay when you accelerate as if you had already downshifted to where peak torque was, and yet it is still pleasant to drive around town. So I have kind of felt like this but maybe for a slightly different reason.
Finally, Autopian themed Thanksgiving dinner table politics. Bravo Torch.
You know, I don’t want to agree, and for the most part I don’t, but I get where you’re coming from.
However, I’m going to put my foot down and say that it’s not a manual transmission if the gear selector is not manually changing the gear. A touch screen is not a manual gear selector, a FBW stalk on a column is not a manual gear selector. They’re input signals that are sent to a computer, the computer changes the gear, not you.
If you had a giant lever that manually redirected the drive direction from forward to reverse, I’d say you’re on to something. That’s a manual transmission. But if there isn’t a direct link between your gear selector and the gearbox, I can’t accept this take.
(And yes, I know old autos used a direct link between the shifter and the transmission, but by putting it in D, you still allow it to function as an automatically shifting transmission.)
Torch, we entertained your literal engine porn, but I can’t accept your transmission definition views.
does this make my shaver a manual?
To expand on that it’s not even a transmission, it’s a direct drive with gear reduction. It’s no more a transmission than a rear differential is.
Heck of a take, all right. What would David have to say if an EV has a timing belt?
(Has there ever been an EV with a timing belt/chain??)
I mean, EV motors use sensors to detect the position of the rotor so they know when to turn each set of windings on and off. So that’s sort of a timing belt. It’s timing, anyway.
Nah, that’s basically the crank position sensor
is a direct drive even a transmission? Also aren’t most Ev motors connected directly to the wheel hubs??