Lexus, a company that hasn’t sold a stick shift in 10 years, is planning to bring a manual transmission and clutch pedal to a future EV.
Imagine an electric car with the driver engagement of a manual transmission. Complete with a stick shift and a clutch pedal. It’s not Porsche, Ferrari, or Lamborghini talking about the idea, though. It is Lexus. The company is looking at adding the analog driver experience back to the electric vehicle equation.
Lexus Wants Fun to Drive EVs
![Lexus EV Manual Transmission Lexus EV Manual Transmission](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2022/12/lexus-electrified2.jpg)
While Lexus and parent Toyota haven’t been as quick to bring EVs to market as some competitors, the company knows EVs are the most likely future for the automobile.
The plan, then: “All future development will be based on the principle of leveraging electrification to reinvent the driving experience. We want our vehicles to be truly enjoyable to drive,” said Lexus Europe boss Pascal Ruch.
Lexus engineer Takashi Watanabe said that the project began with company engineers sitting and talking about what they’d miss most with EVs. The manual transmission was high on the list. “There is nothing more engaging for a passionate driver than to be able to shift gears,” he said.
The company took one of its UX 300e crossovers — an electric version of the UX crossover that isn’t sold in North America. Then Lexus engineers fitted a gearshift, a clutch pedal, and a tachometer.
Afterward, the team created a “simulated drive force map” to emulate an internal combustion car. This lets the power surge and wane much like we would expect it to in a gas car instead of an EV’s continuous feed of power.
“This gave us so much fun that the project is now under serious development,” Watanabe said. He added that it might actually make it to future-production Lexus EVs.
System Can Mimic Gas Power
![Lexus EV Manual Transmission Lexus EV Manual Transmission](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2022/12/lexus-electrified-700x398.jpg)
Lexus Launching Other Driver Engagement EV Features
![Lexus EV Manual Transmission Lexus EV Manual Transmission](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.gearjunkie.com/uploads/2022/12/lsescnet-10.jpg)