Is the gearbox as good as possible? Is it more fuel efficient?

Introduction: Last year, Ford applied for a patent for an 11-speed automatic transmission. Honda also recently revealed the patent of an 11-speed automatic transmission. Nowadays, the car companies have smashed the number of gears to more than 10 by saying a single word. Is the trend in the future more and more gear? Does a single-position automatic gearbox become a thing of the past?

The more gear, the more fuel-efficient?
Unlike CVT gearboxes, AT gearboxes, dual clutch gearboxes, and manual gearboxes rely on different gear sets meshing to switch between different gear ratios to achieve shifting and torque-changing shifting effects. In switching the gap time of different gear sets, the engine will lose a certain amount of power. The match between the engine and the transmission affects the fuel economy. The AT gearbox can't just look at the number of gears. Under different operating conditions, the engine can be placed in the most economical speed range through a reasonable gear setting. This saves fuel.

The more gear, the faster the gearbox responds.
From the perspective of the working principle of the gearbox, it is not the number of transmission gear positions that affects the response speed of the gearbox. It is mainly related to the transmission ECU and the shift actuator. The shift response speed also reflects the accumulation of manufacturers' R&D data. Through long-term tests on different models, relying on years of data support, the excellent transmission company can make the gearbox smarter and respond to different driving situations. When conditions are working, you can quickly make the gearbox make the right feedback without hesitating to judge again.

The more gear, the smoother it is?
The more gears there are, in fact, not directly related to the smoothness, but more about the matching of the engine and gearbox, shift logic and so on. Gears such as the ZF 9AT gearbox are more concentrated than the majority of the 8AT or 7AT gears. Overdrive gears are obviously more extended to provide better fuel economy at high speeds.

In short, the number of gears in an automatic transmission is not directly related to ride comfort, response speed, etc. For 9AT, 10AT or even 11AT gearboxes, it is not necessarily better than a well-tuned 6AT gearbox. . The factors that determine the gearbox performance are the matching and setting of the gearbox and the engine, when the gearbox is being shifted, the performance of the torque converter, when the lockup clutch is locked, and so on. Of course, this is not to say that the gear is better than not. The more gears, transmission gear ratio can be set more broadly, for example, the gear ratio of the highest gear can be designed to be smaller, so that the engine runs at a lower speed when the vehicle is cruising at high speed, to obtain a good fuel Economical.