What sound should electric cars make to help people hear them coming?

Just been an article on Radio 4. I think it’s a stupid idea myself, if they can make them silent I’m more than happy with that, but if they must add a sound…

Vroom vroom.

the sound of somebody flicking through The Guardian.

There are a lot of electric taxis in Wellington, went for a ride in one last time I was back – bit spooky. They def need to make a sound people listen for cars, how many times have pedestrians stepped out on a corner in front of you on your bike ??

P.S They should eqip them all with 1930s “arruugga” (sp ??) horns like in The Waltons.

john inman* shouting “yooo hooo!!”

*add your own camp celeb

Nothing, they should remain silent.

After a bit people would get used to looking for them, this would have the added benefit that they might also see silent bicycles too.

On the other hand if pedestrians start getting used to looking rather than just listening for cars that’s got to be better for cyclists

chooo chooo

Clicking of a Hope Hub?

Tie fighter or X-wing, one of the two at least.

Hellllllllloooooooo! Hellllllllloooooooo! Hellllllllloooooooo!

cranberry has it 🙂

The one time you want carsto be quiet is when they’re moving between houses. this is also the time they should be moving more slowly (yeah, we wish).

Why can’t they remain quiet at these times, but then have motion detectors that let off a quiet alert when a pedestrian is within “range”?

Oh, and while I agree that looking out for cars is always advisable, unfortunately the blind rely heavily on their hearing – I had a blind man step into my path when on the bike because he was listening for cars. Whack! was the first he knew of my presence.

Ride of the Valkyries

How about the sound of their tires rolling on the tarmac/cobbles/etc?
I’m with muppetWrangler on this one…

Deaf people manage to survive quite well. People who walk around with headphones in (myself included) manage just fine. I have a second nature blind spot check (from cycling and driving) which I do before stepping out, and looking around before crossing into a road. It’s not like there isn’t a 4 inch drop down to most roads. As said above it may be the thing needed to make all road users (peds, cyclists, cars etc) be a bit more aware, and consequently reduce incidents.

A clapper and bell like lepers?

Oh god – this is going to be a resurgence of the Max Power types modding their sound boxes to sound like everything from American V8s to Star Trek to Drum & Bass.

People who walk around with headphones in (myself included) manage just fine.

No they don’t. Deaf people are at least aware of their lack of hearing and as such adjust their behaviour to suit.

Headphone wearing numpties are right up there with “staring in to the smartphone” idiots for stepping right out in front of cyclists/cars/trucks/self-righteousness wagons*

*Spotted an electric vehicle the other day proudly proclaiming to be “Emmissions free”. Really? So no emissions from where the electricity is made, eh? Clever….

But, to address the OP’s point, I think they shoul;d all sound like a Chinook hekelopter.

messerschmitt
I find electric cars a bit spooky when I’m riding a bike, they kind of creep up on you
I rely on hearing a lot as a secondary warning to sight, or if your eyes are having to concentrate more on what’s ahead
they should probably make a high-pitched whirring sound to distinguish them from proper cars, like a milk float – it’s what people are familiar with

Taxis in Flaorence use Prius’s and when they are in electric mode they emit a sort of soft “bong” every couple of seconds. Seems to work just fine. When the car speeds up and the engine kicks in the “bong” goes off..

One of the most annoying things about cars is the noise, anything to reduce it is good.

I think over something like 20 something or 30 something mph the dominant noise is road noise anyway.

nokia ringtone

Ride of the Valkyries +1

midlifecrashes – Member

Just been an article on Radio 4. I think it’s a stupid idea myself, if they can make them silent I’m more than happy with that, but if they must add a sound…

LOL

That’s my video you have there midlifecrashes, if you listen, you can hear my daughter singing in the trailer behind me 😉

Think I would prefer the sound of a Rover V8 myself 😉

IME most car noise is actually tyre noise, of which electric cars make just as much as any other. The only time they are really quiet is at less than say 5mph – however that’s a) not a dangerous speed, people often don’t see you but you are manoeuvring and looking out for peds anyway and a quick beep of the horn sorts it out and b) many petrol cars make hardly any noise at those speeds anyway, and it’s easily drowned out by city noise.

The only times I’ve been surprised by cars at low speeds they were big petrol cars.

As a Prius driver the ONLY time people haven’t noticed me is when I am in a car park or something doing 2-3mph. However that happens in my 2.0 TDI Passat too, unbelievably, just not as often.

white noise?

rolls-royce merlin? (greatest sound ever)

spokey-dokeys?

Benny Hill music. The euros would love it! 😀

Should come with a soundboard you can interchange or download new sounds and themes for. Such as ‘clown car’ ‘tie fighter’ ‘a day at the zoo’ stuff like that.

Just a continuous but ever-changing farting sound.

That would always brighten up my day 🙂

I drove a Smart Electric att he weekend down the South Bank’s Festival of Britain.. anyhoo’s they’re really quiet. It was quite odd driving along not hearing anything except tyre noise.. and if you know what a Smart drives like then you’ll know you hear the engine at slow speeds.. It did make me nervous driving it along a busy street behind the Theatre but once on the “open” roads I completely forgot it was electric.
Maybe the sound of a crying baby would help. It would certainly get some adults “tutting”.

white noise would be good as it’s very easy for the human ear to pinpoint it’s location (hence why some sirens have a blast of white noise). It should increase in volume with speed, until the car is above, say, 35mph, at which point it should be silent

Julian beat me to it!

A tesla I’ve ridden next to a few times in grosvenor square made more than enough road noise with its tyres.

A tesla I’ve ridden next to a few times in grosvenor square made more than enough road noise with its tyres

In a very subtle way are you trying to tell us you’re landed gentry/a Russian billionaire?

Surely you’ve a ‘gentleman’s gentleman’ to drive yr Tesla for you 😉

A loop of “Sorry mate, didn’t see you”