Toronto, Ontario – In a recently released patent filed by Toyota, the automaker has revealed its intention to design EVs with the capacity to stall in order to capture a “real” driving experience.
Toyota has long-since declared its desire to simulate a manual transmission in its fully electric vehicles with a shifter and clutch pedal.
The recent patent filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office further offers the automaker’s assertion that if EVs never stalled, it would lead to “a sense of discomfort to the driver who knows that driving sensation of the manual transmission vehicle.”
Along with simulated manual transmission features, the patent also states that Toyota’s Evs will have a simulated tachometer and “idle speed.”
If a driver drops below this “idle speed,” the EVs inverter will instantly set the electric motor’s torque to zero simulating a stalling sensation with the vehicle receiving no more tractive power.
The patent is not clear on what happens after the vehicle stalls and if drivers will have to cycle the ignition to get power back–as in an ICE vehicle.
However, Toyota does offer some caveats for the intended feature. Namely, that the entire “MT” mode can be shut off in favour of regular EV driving if desired, and that the car will sense if it’s in a situation where stalling would be potentially dangerous (such as on a hill with traffic).
Using a “Stall Avoidance Unit,” when the vehicle senses that it is in a potentially dangerous situation, it will instead offer driver’s a warning message on the vehicle’s dashboard notifying that a stall would have happened.
“EVs don’t stall, so you don’t have to be precise about the clutch application,” Lexus President Takashi Watanabe said during a roundtable discussion earlier this month. “But everybody half-clutches it and tries to match the revs, and so we made it so that it creates a certain amount of shock. You feel it.”
As with all patents, there is no guarantee that this feature will ever make it to manufacturing, however, Toyota’s continued commitment to users having a similar experience between EVs and ICE vehicles suggests that continued efforts will be made when developing electric vehicles in the future.
