Antonov Develops Automatic Multispeed Electric Vehicle Transmission

As you know, most electric vehicles come fitted with single speed transmissions, but it seems that all this is about to change, as the UK-based automatic gearbox specialist Antonov claims that EVs fitted with its multispeed transmission are more efficient that the current ones.

The company has released a series of comparative studies which show that its transmission offers a 10 percent boost in efficiency, with the test being carried out over eight different driving cycles.

Antonov's multispeed transmission was first analyzed in a Jaguar Limo-Green research car, with the company bragging that the current setup, which offers three gears, has the potential to evolve into a future one, which would offer 4 or 5 speeds and offer seamless shifts.

It seems that the transmission is scalable to different types of vehicles ranging from passenger cars to light commercial vehicles, delivery trucks and even public transport buses.

"Inevitably, there is a compromise with a single speed gearbox particularly in terms of low speed acceleration, hill climbing and high speed cruising. The 10 per cent step change improvement in efficiency can be achieved with just two ratios, but technical compromises remain in other areas. Three or more ratios are better, delivering additional improvements in performance and refinement as well as efficiency, with each additional ratio providing small incremental gains in cycle efficiency,” said Antonov’s business development manager David Paul.