# Cool new clutch. There is something new under the sun. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 5, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-new-clutch-there-is-something-new-under-the-sun/759158 "2016-07-05T21:17:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-new-clutch-there-is-something-new-under-the-sun/759158/1 "2016-07-05T21:17:57Z")
This [new idea for clutch](http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/clutch-player-this-tech-just-may-be-the-future-of-automotive-transmissions/ar-AAi5hOS?ocid=DELLDHP15) didn’t sound all that different at first. So it uses dog gears, so what, a lot of transmissions do. But that’s not the new part, it adds two electric motors, one to get a car rolling so there’s no matching a rotating shaft to a stationary plate to start with, and then once the car is going a second motor matches the speed and torque between the engine and drive train when you shift. Should have all the advantages of direct drive through a manual transmission with seamless shifting. Should be a perfect match with hybrid gas/electric cars. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-new-clutch-there-is-something-new-under-the-sun/759158/2 "2016-07-05T21:58:51Z")
Adding the weight of 2 more electric motors to a car? When the manufacturers are already replacing the bumpers with cheap, breakable plastic to save weight? That’s not likely to go far. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-new-clutch-there-is-something-new-under-the-sun/759158/3 "2016-07-05T22:09:17Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Adding the weight of 2 more electric motors to a car? > When the manufacturers are already replacing the bumpers with cheap, breakable plastic to save weight? That’s not likely to go far. In a hybrid it may only be adding the weight of one electric motor. If it can improve fuel efficiency sufficiently over other designs without too much cost then it has potential. I don’t know how typical automatic transmissions compare weight-wise to standards, so I can’t say if adds weight altogether or not. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-new-clutch-there-is-something-new-under-the-sun/759158/4 "2016-07-05T22:49:56Z")
Interesting, but it seems like a weird intermediate point along the hybrid spectrum. The [Koenigsegg Regera](http://koenigsegg.com/regera/) seems more elegant to me. It uses the same basic principle of eliminating the clutch by using the electric motor to replace the first couple of gears, but after that there’s just a single speed transmission. It does have a torque converter of some kind–not sure exactly how it works. But aside from that it’s virtually a passthrough. ---
**Author:** ![Nefario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/59ef9b/32.png) [@Nefario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefario)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-new-clutch-there-is-something-new-under-the-sun/759158/5 "2016-07-06T00:21:45Z")
What’s “inefficient” about a friction clutch? Compared to the losses, control system, and cost of a large electric motor?? :rolleyes: I understand how this system could eliminate a _Torque Convertor_ but it seems that this is just another way to get a hybrid car moving. This scheme has pretty much the same function as a Prius transmission which uses a motor/generator to drive, hold, or extract energy via a planetary gearset. With fewer parts. Kind neat but impractical and I can’t imagine this hasn’t been thought of before. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-new-clutch-there-is-something-new-under-the-sun/759158/6 "2016-07-06T08:20:54Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > Adding the weight of 2 more electric motors to a car? You’re removing over 20 Kg of transmission. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-new-clutch-there-is-something-new-under-the-sun/759158/7 "2016-07-06T08:32:05Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > When the manufacturers are already replacing the bumpers with cheap, breakable plastic to save weight? That’s not likely to go far. Bumpers are high grade steel, and quite expensive components in terms of cost and weight. The plastic or composite fascia that covers them, though, is designed for appearance and aerodynamics. If we wanted to be really cheap, we’d expose the ugly steel! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-new-clutch-there-is-something-new-under-the-sun/759158/8 "2016-07-06T12:41:01Z")
yeah, I’m not seeing the advantage. if this thing already needs two electric motors to operate, then why use a complex manual/DCT instead of the planetary-gear eCVT like the Prius’s Aisin transaxle or the Ford HF35? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-new-clutch-there-is-something-new-under-the-sun/759158/9 "2016-07-06T16:16:36Z")
Meh, still sounds like an automatic to me, pass Other “manuals” that aren’t… Automated single clutch gearbox DSG/ dual clutch gearbox Anything with “flappy paddles” If there is no foot-operated clutch pedal, and/or the transmission can shift gears without driver input, it’s an automatic ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cool-new-clutch-there-is-something-new-under-the-sun/759158/10 "2016-07-06T16:29:27Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > The [Koenigsegg Regera](http://koenigsegg.com/regera/) seems more elegant to me. It uses the same basic principle of eliminating the clutch by using the electric motor to replace the first couple of gears, but after that there’s just a single speed transmission. It does have a torque converter of some kind–not sure exactly how it works. But aside from that it’s virtually a passthrough. I like that concept, and I’ve wondered why it’s not being done (that I’ve noticed anyway). Electric for low speed and direct drive IC engine for highway makes sense. Not sure why they have the engine inline, but maybe a transverse differential is no better. I see the new tranny in the OP in the category of a continuously variable transmission, it’s not exactly that, but has the appearance of that to the driver. It doesn’t seem to be a vastly new concept, just one which has become potentially practical with new technology for the electric motors and sensors required. A device with that complexity could have been built before, but it would probably encounter numerous problems and would have been heavier and more expensive. It is an odd intermediate though, it presumes a future for high performance IC engines that may not exist, and it has to prove advantageous over other CV related concepts.