One of the biggest complaints about electric cars from enthusiasts is their lack of noise. Compared to the sound of an internal combustion engine working, an electric car is flat-out uninspiring. Especially when trying to drive quickly. While the performance of many electric cars can be thrilling, they still lack emotion and, no matter how fast, there’s no comparison to the feeling of hearing a screaming engine responding to your right foot.
So some car companies are looking to replace the silence, or slight electric motor whir, with a different noise. Such a noise would supposedly help two-fold, as it will supposedly make the car more exciting while also allowing pedestrians to hear it coming.
But is that really a good idea? Should electric cars make noise if it’s an artificial noise? I remember the movie “The Dilemma”, with Vince Vaughn and Winona Ryder, and in it, Vaughn co-owns a company that creates artificial engine noise in electric cars. While I like the movie, I always thought that idea was stupid. If us enthusiasts hate when BMW pumps a bit of artificial noise enhancements through the speakers, won’t enthusiasts really hate completely fake engine noise in a car that doesn’t even have an engine?
One such car company that’s debating on an electric car noise is Mercedes-AMG. So much so, in fact, that AMG is working with Linkin Park to develop a noise for AMG’s future electric cars. Admittedly, Mercedes-AMG CEO Tobias Moers has stated that the brand isn’t sure which route to go with EV noise, whether or not it should be engine noise or some sort of electric noise.
Nissan is also working on what it calls the “Sounds of the Future” for electric cars. Basically, it just makes its electric cars ‘beep, boop’ as they go down the street and it sounds ridiculous.
I always felt that it would be cool if electric cars were just a bit louder, meaning the electric motor whir was louder and more aggressive, whether it was artificially enhanced or not. That would make it sound faster and more exciting while also sounding like what it is. But to create an entirely different noise altogether? That just seems a bit…cheesy, doesn’t it?
[Source: Jalopnik]
