How come we can’t just add X amount of gears to a transmission and have one of the most efficient cars ever?

Question

How come we can’t just add X amount of gears to a transmission and have one of the most efficient cars ever?

In: 95

Answer 1

Gears take up space, they’re made of heavy metal, and the more you add the bigger, heavier, and more complicated the transmission gets.

This is why smaller vehicles these days often use continuously variable transmissions (CVT). Instead of gears, the use two cones and a belt that rides up or down to adjust the ratio without using gears. The CVT can adjust the ratio anywhere between it’s minimum and maximum, as if were a geared transmission with infinite gears.