What Transmission Does The Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut Use And How Does It Work So Fast?
The Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut that the Swedish hypercar maker unveiled in 2020 is more than a tribute to company founder Christian von Koenigsegg's father. Owing to the Absolut in its name, it's the quickest car to wear the Koenigsegg badge, with Christian von Koenigsegg vowing never to make another car quicker than the Jesko Absolut. The madness starts with a heavily revised 5.0-liter twin-turbo V8 derived from the equally bonkers Agera, a car that ranks as one of the fastest Koenigsegg models to leave the Angelholm factory.
The engine mods include a lightweight billet flat-plane crankshaft, lightened pistons and connecting rods, two ceramic ball-bearing turbochargers, and dry sump lubrication, totaling in up to 1,600 horsepower on E85 fuel, and an unfathomable 1,106 pound-feet of torque, all while revving up to 8,500 rpm. Fill it up with regular gas, and the engine can still produce 1,280 horsepower, more than enough to break some traffic laws. The Jesko Absolut's engine is a gem, but the crown jewel has to be its magnificent nine-speed Light Speed Transmission, a proprietary, in-house developed engineering masterpiece that's moving the goalposts in the hypercar and performance realm.
The Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut's 9-speed LST is unlike anything in the car world
Christian von Koenigsegg didn't just set out to build world-class sports cars when the company doors opened in 1994. The automaker has gradually established a reputation for its top-notch engineering solutions and innovations. Things like dihedral synchro-helix doors, Triplex suspension, and the Regera's direct-drive transmission were all developed and built in-house. The latest mind-boggling Koenigsegg invention is the 9-speed Light Speed Transmission, or LST, which debuted exclusively for the Jesko Attack and Jesko Absolut.
The Koenigsegg LST is a nine-speed multi-clutch transmission. Unlike conventional dual-clutch transmissions with only two gear shafts, the LST features three gear shafts with seven wet clutches, each equipped with dedicated pressure sensors and actuators. The innovative and lightweight design enables a compounding gear structure that delivers near-instantaneous gear changes, whether shifting up or down, hence the Light Speed part of the name. It operates without the use of collars, synchronizers, or selector forks that a DCT would typically have, and the fact that the entire transmission only weighs 198 pounds, including fluids, makes it even more impressive.
Ultimate Power On Demand (UPOD)
As if the lightning-quick gear changes were not enough, the Jesko Absolut's 9-speed LST benefits from Koenigsegg's Ultimate Power On Demand (UPOD) technology. UPOD is the brain of the 9-speed LST and has an exciting feature that could blow even the most modern dual-clutch gearboxes out of the water. DCTs can execute millisecond-quick shift times by essentially predicting and pre-selecting the next forward gear. For instance, the system preps the third gear in advance after executing the second gear, enabling the driver to enjoy faster gear changes upon selecting the third gear.
However, DCTs only operate in single-gear intervals. For example, if you're in sixth gear and want to shift down to fourth, the system goes from sixth to fifth, and then fifth to fourth. Moreover, DCTs are inefficient if the system predicts and pre-selects the wrong gear, such as pre-selecting fifth gear when the driver wants to shift to fourth gear. Koenigsegg's 9-speed Light Speed Transmission utilizes Ultimate Power On Demand not only to optimize every gear change for maximum power but also to bypass downshifts and land precisely on the correct gear based on the vehicle and engine speed.
In other words, Koenigsegg's 9-speed LST can go from seventh to third gear without going through six, five, and four. It's like pressing a button, and you're there. The result is zero to 60 mph in around 2.79 seconds, a quarter mile in 8.88 seconds, and a standing mile in 13.27 seconds at 223.5 mph. Combined with a sleek, aero-optimized body that slices the wind at 0.278 Cd, the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut is worth every penny of its circa $3 million asking price.