Does an Electric Car Need a Noise?

23rd August 2010 - Does an electric car need a noise? Is one of the questions manufacturers have been trying to answer. Some of the manufacturers have been working with groups including the blind to come up with a noise to make people more aware when an electric car is approaching.

We have been driving a Mitsubishi i-MiEV for the past 8 months at any speed above 15 MPH there is enough wind and road noise to let people know you are coming. Below 15 MPH this can be a different story, there have been a few occasions when I have driven into our road and the children are out playing and are not aware of our presence.

This happened yesterday we were within a few meters from someone and they had not heard us approaching. I soon found the answer to letting them know we were there, my 5 year old son shouted “You’re in the way” out of the window. They soon knew we were there and moved out of the way.

Another solution could be to turn the radio up loud, but this would soon upset other people, so the solution may be for the manufactures to produce a sound at low speeds. I would only like this myself if it could not be heard from within the car. Driving an electric car is a nice quiet experience and I would like to keep it that way.

Return from Does an Electric Car Need a Noise? to electric car blog page.