The Gearbox-less Hybrid Hypercar
The Koenigsegg Regera was announced awhile back at the Geneva Motor show. This particular car is interesting because it does not have a gear box. At all. Its entire one thousand seven hundred horsepower is delivered to the rear wheels through a system called the Koenigsegg Direct Drive (or KDD for ease).
Possibly the most confusing part of this system is trying to get your head around the lack of a gearbox. However, the lack of gearbox does absolutely not mean that there are no gears, this would make no sense because there has to be a way for the power to be distributed from the longitudinal drive shaft to the latitudinal rear axle that drive the rear wheels. I think that the main point is that there are no switchable gears, this, unfortunately, removes downshifts and rev matching abilities, but this car makes that in its brutal acceleration and top speed.
One of the more interesting features of the drivetrain is the 3 electric motors that it houses under the floor, one in front of the engine, and two either side of the gear ratio. This means that the two electric motors that are either side of the ratio are controlling the wheels individually which allows for torque vectoring. This might sound very technical, but in essence, it allows for much better handling.
A key aspect this system working is the hydraulic coupling, this replaced the clutch which would be between the engine and the rear differential. The hydraulic coupling has been used in many other types of cars as a torque converter. This also allows for the lack of gears, in turn this car saves huge amounts of weight by getting rid of its gear box, and thus, the power losses in the gears!The third electrical engine is purely to start up the petrol engine when accelerating hard. What Koenigsegg also use is a lock-up clutch mechanism which removes all power losses in the hydraulic coupling at high speeds.
So, all in all, the Gearboxless hypercar is a massive change to what we are used to seeing from the likes of Koenigsegg, it will certainly be interesting to see how it stacks up against its main rivals.
Let us know what you think in the comments below.
