Electric cars are too quiet

[obi_waynne]

Many are complaining that electric and hybrid electric cars are too quiet when running on batteries.

Safety pressures are likely to cause the makers to add various beeps and other sounds to the cars engine bay at various speeds.

Do you think this is realistic or necessary? What noise should they use beeps or perhaps a recorded V8 burble?

 

[Prince]

Maybe they could make them so that you can choose a different noise it makes. Have a different sound every day of the week! That would be cool.

 

[HDi fun]

Maybe they could make them so that you can choose a different noise it makes. Have a different sound every day of the week! That would be cool.

We're into aural virtualization here. In my opinion a car can never be too quiet.

Electric cars do present an obvious safety risk because of their almost silent gait. But if we were all driving them and there were no internal combustion engines' noise to mask the quiet electric cars then all would be resolved. Our towns and villages would be just as safe as they are now. And much quieter than they are now.

Just think of the possibility of selecting D without having to start an engine at all.

It would suit me provided that the cars can cover reasonable distances between recharges and have a decent amount of torque to make for an effortless drive rather than a tiring and needlessly slow drive.

Then again, many cars are so hushed anyway, even on the outside, that you wonder if there really is a problem.

 

[indiaman]

Many are complaining that electric and hybrid electric cars are too quiet when running on batteries.

Safety pressures are likely to cause the makers to add various beeps and other sounds to the cars engine bay at various speeds.

Do you think this is realistic or necessary? What noise should they use beeps or perhaps a recorded V8 burble?

I think electric cars should come equipped with two horns, one discreet sounding horn labelled"please" and another loud one labelled"look out"

 

[obi_waynne]

I think electric cars should come equipped with two horns, one discreet sounding horn labelled"please" and another loud one labelled"look out"

I like that idea!

 

[HDi fun]

Can we have a third option which denotes 'you f*****' w*****' ?

 

[bigbadjoe]

Easy way to fix all this is to ban the things.

Where does electic come from?

Power station

Where does the power station get its energy from?

Coal, Oil, Odd socks and tea spoons ect.

Until I become PM and make all power necular, there is no point investing in electric cars.

UK's global footprint is tiny. I aint switchin to a more eco car to try and save some ice, while yanks roll around in there V12 8L monsters. And its not just yanks, most if not all third world countries use lorries and old muscle cars and pay next to no (and no) tax.

 

[Yugguy]

I had a Pruis for a week as a hire car from work. Keeping it on electric (under 30), it was funny watching how people just didnt notice it.

 

[martinwinlow]

@bigbadjoe

... Hmmmm. Except, of course, that electric vehicles are 4 times as efficient as their ICE'ed equivalents - which means my converted HiJet van does the equivalent of about 120 miles to the gallon!

As for noise... Typical - do ICE vehicle drivers have a hang up about making such a racket they think everyone else's vehicle should do too? Let's have some peace and quiet, FCOL. Anyway, how do people avoid being mown down by cyclists? They LOOK where they are flaming-well GOING! Happy days! MW.

 

[HDi fun]

If we all drove electric cars then their lack of noise would not be a problem because there would be no ICE noise to mask the electric cars' sounds.

 

[jarrus]

Can we have a third option which denotes 'you f*****' w*****' ?

lmao,

i'd need one of those and another one that says, "yes you!!"

 

[jarrus]

in my evo there is an article about the Tesla Roadster and the recently reopened Crystal palace circuit, it's a hill climb event now and one of the journalists used the tesla to compete and he noted that he had to be very careful when maneuverering around the heards of people because they didn't hear him,

also to note that the event had an "alternative fuels" category and the tesla came second only being beaten by a 240 exige by 0.6 seconds!! what you have to think about is this cars mad acceleration, it does 0-60 3.5 seconds and costs about 3p in electric to "fill" the reason it can move sooo quick is cause it has only 1 gear and the full amount of torque available from anywhere in the rev band (and yes i do mean anywhere) all 280lbft from 0 rpm's

Now i love the sound of an old dirty v8 and the sweet song of a v12 but if electric cars can perform this well then I'm sure I can get over it....

 

[HDi fun]

Torque is king. We all talk power but we all drive torque.

 

[obi_waynne]

Hi MartinWinlow and welcome to TorqueCars - nice to meet you.

The downside of electric cars at the moment, Tesla being a case in point is the 10k cost of battery replacement after 10 years. It is still cheaper than a petrol car but this sting in the tail will generally be bourne by a used buyer. Perhaps the value will drop a lot to compensate for this.

 

[HDi fun]

There are many problems associated with hybrids. Storing electricity has been a problem for years. It still is.

There needs to be a radical step in battery technology to overcome the weight, capacity and service life problems.

Quite apart from this, there's the pollution created during the manufacture or remanufacture of the battery packs and also the environmental costs of their final disposal.

I'm less bothered about pollution from power generating stations as these burn fossil fuels far more efficiently than a car burns them.

What we need to do is take a step back and think long and hard.

What's the point of using ever rocketing costs (price increases) to try and preserve the 'environment'.

Whether or not you think global warming is an issue is beside the point.

What if we're all rendered penniless and homeless due to outrageous taxation designed to 'save' the environment?

Sure, we'll have a nice undepleted ozone layer, nice clean air to breathe. It won't be too hot, because global warming will have been arrested by the very clever politicians who have seen to it that we can't afford anything at all to pollute it.

But we're all defacating in the gutter and drinking from dirty streams.

Lovely environment that'll be.

 

[jarrus]

Indeed, that's my point