The rise of electrified vehicles has been taken as one more nail in the coffin of the manual transmission. But Toyota could be working to ensure that hybrid vehicles don’t mean the end of selecting your own gears.
The automaker recently filed a patent application on a system that would facilitate the use of a manual transmission in hybrid vehicles. The system would manage the interplay between the internal combustion engine, the electric motor, and their requirements on the transmission.
Although the patent was filed in August 2021, it was only published in February, and was first noticed by The Drive. The main focus of the patent is the management of the clutch.
Read: Toyota Developing Fake Manuals For EVs, Patents Reveal
The rather complicated transmission would include a shuttle valve with multiple clutch cylinders. These would, in turn, be connected to the clutch pedal and the ECU. That would allow the driver to select gears more or less as they would expect from a manual transmission.
Meanwhile, the clutch going to the ECU would help the car seamlessly shift between engine and electric power. The computer could cut in and effectively depress the clutch when the car is coasting to a stop, or while it’s taking off to allow the electric motor to step in when necessary.
The arrangement of the valves means that the driver would always be able to depress the clutch, regardless of what the ECU wants. The patent also allows for a driving mode in which the computer butts out entirely, and the transmission is connected to the clutch pedal alone.
The patent will almost certainly appeal to enthusiasts, especially now that hybrid powertrains are becoming more and more common among performance vehicles. It also follows from Toyota‘s patent for a simulated manual transmission for electric vehicles, and is further evidence that the Japanese automaker wants to continue courting car people as the industry electrifies.
