With EVs becoming ever more prevalent, it seems, the opposite is happening to the manual gearbox. The sad truth is, more and more carmakers are ditching the three pedals and the stick from their lineups, in favor of fast-shifting automatics. However, Toyota’s recently filed patents suggest that Toyota is planning to introduce a manual gearbox for fully electric vehicles.

Toyota’s EV manual gearbox was first seen in BZ Forums, under Patent 20220041155A1. Toyota’s EV manual transmission can best be described as a controller, which is calibrated to control the torque of the electric motor. Another interesting aspect, mentioned in the patent description is simulating a shift reaction force when the driver is using the car’s "shifter”.

Toyota’s EV manual gearbox calculates torque from the electric motors, by using a model of a manual-transmission vehicle, powered by an internal combustion engine, allowing it to simulate the feel of a manual gearbox in electric vehicles. This means that the “gear shifts” will be motivated by a forced reduction of torque from the electric motors, courtesy of the aforementioned controller.

There are a lot of “pseudo” prefixes in Toyota’s description for the system, such as “pseudo-clutch” and “pseudo-shifter”. It’s obvious that EVs don’t really need a gearbox, which is why the vast majority of them don’t have one. Hopefully, when Toyota decides to debut its manual gearbox for EVs, it will not feel like you are playing Forza Horizon on a simulator at home.