Electric cars were supposed to be less noisy than internal combustion engines. In fact, they are so quiet that manufacturers have to add “pedestrian warning sounds” to make sure pedestrians can hear cars and make way for them. However I can hear them when sitting in my apartment with the windows open. Or when I’m just walking around in the city. In the end, I find some of them more noisy and annoying than internal combustion engines when they are moving at low speed.
So far the most noisy electric cars to me are Hyundai and Chevrolet.
I know they are just complying with safety regulations in their own way. After all, people can’t drive a two ton lethal silent vehicle at speed in compact and dense urban environments without at least making some sort of alien spaceship noise, for safety. But it’s making some electric cars annoying to me. So in the not so distant future, living in a city will sound like this?!
So, aside from those two, what are the other brands that are making their electric cars more noisy and annoying than cars with internal combustion engines?
You must log in or # to comment.
It’s such baloney. ICE vehicles are allowed to make as little noise as they want, but electric vehicles have to purposefully make noise cause they’re too quiet? Rolls Royce don’t make noise, why don’t they need a noise maker.
Toyotas, specifically their hybrids, are the noisiest cars around. And only at parking lot speeds. Yes, this is intentional, but it’s REALLY annoying.
If an electric car can be programmed to sound like the Jetsons flying cars then I will buy one tomorrow.
I know Teslas do that, just don’t buy a new one i guess
just put a bespoke cassette in the am/fm/cassette deck and turn up the speakers
Any ones of them going fast.
This is the truth. It isn’t the fake scifi noises you should be annoyed with, any car going faster than 30-50km/h will sound exactly the same due to road noise from the tires.
“which electric cars are the noisiest”
“All cars are noisy if they’re going fast enough”
Lol ok, but not what we’re talking about.
It’s also incorrect, do they think that the engine just makes zero noise at higher rpms? And that electric vehicles using low resistance tires also has zero effect?
I’m confused, are we on the same side or not? Cars are cars, just because they have a battery doesn’t make them any better for us. A Toyota RAV4 makes the same amount of road noise as a Hyundai Ioniq 9
Yes but I’m not living near an expressway (anymore). Most people also don’t. AFAIK most people living in an urban environment will be near a low speed street. So as mentioned, I’m in my apartment with the windows open and can now hear the the noises of electric cars’ pedestrian warning systems when they pass in front. Or I’m walking along a slow street to go to the grocery and of all the cars on that street, only the electric one can be heard. Even when I have my headphones on.
Sure, electric cars are as noisy as cars with internal combustion engines at high speed. But what I’m specifically concerned about is how much more noisy those things make in an urban environment when at low speed.
Electric car advocates are often saying those are much quieter than cars with internal combustion engines, and that it’s a positive. That electric cars will make our urban environments much more relaxed and quiet. However, because of all those pedestrian warning systems making different types of noises at different volumes and frequencies, they often end up noisier than cars burning gas.
Can we just do with standardized soft beeps on reverse or something?
Yes, better no card at all but that won’t happen and we sometimes may actually need a car
For those moments, I want things standardized and tooled for humans
Zeekr 001. Bane of my existence. They have the most annoying pedestrian alert noise on the fucking planet, I swear someone came up with it after reverse engineering a torture device.
I never had the displeasure to hear one yet. But as my country just opened up to Chinese electric cars, I guess it won’t be long before there’s one more annoying sound in our urban environment.
Not a single other chinese (or chinese-built) EV I’ve heard compares to that thing. Which is a shame bc the form factor is pretty cool, as is the battery/range
edit: on the flip side, Nissan (i think) have a really nice tone
I suspect it’s less about the intensity and more about frequency. Some cut through the background noise of city traffic more effectively. ICE cars (without performance enhancement exhausts) are pretty low frequency but that sound propagates further, I think.
Toyota hybrids are noisy for me.
Yes, low frequency sounds resonate further, which is why they use mid-high pitch on the EVs… it makes noise locally, but doesn’t translate as far. Important for vision impaired to be able to determine the locality of the sound.
Perhaps a more important question is why do EVs not have the option to make their pedestrian awareness sound like a jetson’s car?
The lame answer is that there are specific legal requirements around what sound they have to make.
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-V/part-571/subpart-B/section-571.141
Obviously, thats in the US, but i bet other regulatory agencies have similar.
I only skimmed it, but it sounds like a jetsons sound is allowed.
