Considering the savings involved in building transmissions with just three shifting parts, you’ll understand why car companies have become very interested in CVTs lately.

All of this may audio complicated, but it isn’t. In theory, a CVT is much less complex when compared to a normal automatic transmission. A planetary gear automatic transmission – sold in the tens of millions this past year – has hundreds of finely machined shifting parts. It provides wearable friction bands and elaborate electronic and hydraulic handles. A CVT like the one described above has three basic shifting parts: the belt and the two pulleys.

There’s another benefit: The cheapest and top ratios are also additional apart than they would be in a typical step-gear transmitting, giving the transmission a larger “ratio spread” This implies it is a lot more flexible.

The engine can always run at the optimum speed for power or for fuel economy, whatever the wheel speed, this means no revving up or down with each gear change, and the ideal rpm for the Variable Speed Transmission proper speed continuously.

As a result, instead of five or six ratios, you get thousands of ratios between your lowest (smallest-diameter pulley establishing) and highest (largest-diameter pulley environment).

Here’s an example: When you begin from a stop, the control pc de-clamps the insight pulley so the belt turns the smallest diameter while the result pulley (which goes to the wheels) clamps tighter to help make the belt turn its largest diameter. This generates the lowest gear ratio (say, 3.0-to-1) for the quickest acceleration. As speed builds, the pc varies the pulley diameters, as conditions dictate, to get the best balance of fuel economy and power.