Volkswagen details its 1-speed gearbox for electric vehicles

MANILA: Ever wondered what it would be like to drive a car and never shift gears? Well, customers who have reserved and paid for the soon-to-be-delivered Volkswagen ID3 will be the first ones to find out.

We know your interest has been piqued so we break down this Volkswagen primer on its APP310 e-drive unit.

First of all, this transmission will be exclusive to electric vehicles based on the MEB (modular electric drive matrix) of Volkswagen, such as the ID.3, so you expect it on any other VW model.

With only one gear, it is extremely compact because of the two-stage design with two smaller cogs instead of one big unit.

What makes this possible is the electric drive system. Unlike a conventional engine whose torque rises and falls in sync with the engine speed, the torque from an electric motor is available immediately and remains constant over a wide range of speeds. This makes having a multi-speed gearbox to achieve the desired speed or the necessary torque along the speed curve in the ID.3 unnecessary.

To back up the vehicle, the direction of the electric drive system is simply reversed.

In order to achieve the maximum power of 150 kW, the electric drive unit must rotate at high speeds and to get all 310 Nm of torque, a 10x transmission ratio is used.

The maximum speed is 160 kmph and this can be reached at 16,000 rpm.

This one-speed gearbox is manufactured by Volkswagen Group Components at the Kassel plant, Germany.

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