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Locomotives have a very different relationship with weight than road going vehicles do.

Of course an economy car will have a single speed transmission but vehicles that need to put out peak power at both low speeds and high speed (e.g. the Taycan, and an F250) are going to benefit greatly from a way to optimize for multiple speed ranges.




I doubt it. There's no reason to bother doing the research to add another mechanical component which can wear and fail early, when you can just put a more powerful electric motor in.

That's the thing: the incentive structure has changed. The better use of time and research dollars is going to be just upgrading that motor till it's adequate. There's a logical cap on the maximum road speed you need to accomodate, so the problem is eventually "solved" in practical terms.


We have already put the effort into making transmissions though. Not a lot off research dollars needs to go into the problem at this point.

It might or might not be worth it, but transmissions that last as long as the car with no maintenance are common (oil changes are recommended, but few people do).




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