Shifter for a battery-powered vehicle

Abstract

In one aspect, the invention is a shifter for a vehicle driven by an electric motor powered by a battery. The shifter includes a lever with one end adapted to accommodate the hand of a user and another end moveably attached to a base mounted on the vehicle. The base includes a mechanism biasing the lever into an equilibrium position and providing haptic feedback when moved in one direction out of the equilibrium position. The shifter also includes at least one sensor adapted to detect when the lever is moved in the one direction and to send a downshift signal to a processor. The processor is adapted to switch the motor to a power generation mode in response to the signal, thereby charging the battery and slowing the vehicle. The net effect is to simulate downshifting a manual transmission in a gas-powered vehicle. In another aspect, the base includes a mechanism providing haptic feedback when moved to one of a plurality of positions. The shifter also includes a plurality of sensors adapted to detect when the lever is moved to one of the plurality of positions.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.