Despite what you might think, electric cars have gearboxes: some, like Porsche’s Taycan, even have more than one gear. Yet the linear power delivery of an EV is very different from what we’re used to from internal combustion vehicles, with gearing handled in the background in the name of maximizing torque from electric motor to wheels. That hasn’t stopped some automakers from experimenting with putting old-school sticks into their thoroughly new EVs, mind.
Hyundai and Toyota have led the way here, including making the argument for why you’d want a manual electric car. After all, there’s no justification in sheer performance terms: introducing multiple, driver-controlled gears will actually make a fast EV a little slower overall. Instead, the reason is driver engagement, and — given sports car enthusiasts’ mistrust about whether an electric vehicle can ever deliver the same experience — they might be on to something.
In Hyundai’s case, its e-shift system in the Ioniq 5 N uses steering wheel paddles to step through a virtual eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission, like the sort fitted to its performance gas cars. That includes simulated gear change jerks, rev-matching, and shifts in the electronic soundtrack. While it might sound gimmicky, we had a quick try, and it turned out to be mighty good fun.
Toyota takes it even further with a stick shift and a clutch pedal in its prototype system. Switched on, you row between six “manual” gears while hitting the third pedal accordingly, complete with virtual engine sounds, a faux rev-limiter, and even the ability to judder and stall if you get the ratio wrong. Currently, Toyota says the system is just a prototype, though given the ongoing chatter of an EV GR sports car in development, we’re not counting anything out.
