Engine Noise Very Important to Audi

[AP1]

What we've always wanted: Your first electric car will sound like a gas guzzler
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/first-electric-car-sound-gas-guzzler-172541603.html

 

[TomT]

Some of us do appreciate the sound that a truly fine engine makes... I am one of those people. I would want to be able to turn it off, however...

What we've always wanted: Your first electric car will sound like a gas guzzler
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/first-electric-car-sound-gas-guzzler-172541603.html

 

[surfingslovak]

Some of us do appreciate the sound that a truly fine engine makes... I am one of those people. I would want to be able to turn it off, however...

I agree Tom, but it may be too late. It's been signed into law by the president last year. They have been testing the noises they will be adding now for a while (I think in a lab in New Hampshire). It's coming: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/s841/text" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Personally, I don't mind the noise, if it's well-designed. However, I agree that there should some choices, and it should be possible to turn it off. I've noticed that pedestrians can get spooked by electric cars, because they can sort of sneak up on them. Perhaps the solution would be have a proximity detector, and only turn on the sound of there was someone in front or behind the vehicle.

 

[AP1]

I consider myself fortunate to have an early Leaf where I can turn the sound off. We have the opportunity to have quiet streets again and we are blowing it. Imagine a Times Square or an Arc de Triomphe with most of the traffic noise gone and you don't have to shout to be heard. We have gotten so used to the din of city streets we consider it normal, but it's not. Pedestrians will learn how to be more careful where vehicles are allowed without artificial noises. Next we'll be putting sound devices on bicycles.

 

[leafedbehind]

Well if they don't provide a way to turn it off manually, even if it's reset at each startup like the 2011 Leaf, then people will disable it permanently. It's not like it will be difficult to find the external speaker and pull the wire.

 

[davewill]

Some of us do appreciate the sound that a truly fine engine makes... I am one of those people. I would want to be able to turn it off, however...

I can see the appeal of a classic engine purr, but not it it's a fake. I'd rather have something designed for the requirement, keeping pedestrians safe, not something that sounds like I wished I bought an ICE.

 

[DeaneG]

I imagine that some people wanted the first automobiles to "clip clop" and breathe like horses.

 

[Fabio]

Life imitating bad movies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thSmYr9jsZk

What we've always wanted: Your first electric car will sound like a gas guzzler
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/first-electric-car-sound-gas-guzzler-172541603.html

 

[Smidge204]

Prior art: Disney thought of this in 1961

Of course, the car they installed it in ran/flew on flubber but hey...
=Smidge=

 

[AP1]

I imagine that some people wanted the first automobiles to "clip clop" and breathe like horses.

Early law from Redlands, Ca:

Motor vehicles may not drive on city streets unless a man with a lantern is wallking ahead of it.

Maybe we should do the same for electric cars. :lol:

 

[ttweed]

What we've always wanted: Your first electric car will sound like a gas guzzler
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/first-electric-car-sound-gas-guzzler-172541603.html

I don't see anything in the law that requires the alert noise to sound like a "gas guzzler." It basically tells the Dept. of Transportation to determine the "minimum" alert sound that is required to warn blind (and other) pedestrians. Nothing says it has to sound like an ICE car, and it appears to me that these minimum noise standards should be applied to ICE cars as well. Many of the luxury-class ICE cars being produced these days are nearly as quiet as an EV in low speed operation. And what's next? Bicycles? A blind pedestrian is just as likely to step off a curb and be creamed by a speeding bicycle as an EV in my town.

TT

 

[McDavis]

I'm going to say this and get run over by a Prius tomorrow, but, look both ways. Seriously? I've never seen people not look both ways before crossing a street as I have in Colorado and California. Yeah, sure...pedestrians have the right of way, but that doesn't mean drivers are actually paying attention to you. Look both ways.