I've read about the concerns of some groups for the risk to blind people (or to careless pedestrians or cyclists) from near-silent electric vehicles. My thought would be to have a sounder device that worked only in EV mode, and mutes whenever the petrol engine runs or the car is stationary. Personally I would prefer to have a car that emitted the sound of a Rolls-Royce Phantom V12. These are very quiet cars so the sound would not cause annoyance. The suggestion of beepers is just silly and counter to environmental needs, just imagine the annoyance to neighbours of early morning starts or returning late at night, and also think of the racket four cars with slightly different beepers would cause! Any sounder needs to produce noise with no rhythm or precise tone, so that multiple sources sound similar to a single source (just like non-EV traffic noise). Can such a device be bought currently? Regards, John
Maybe a really loud audio system, with an outside speaker, playing a recording of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle (without mufflers) would make them happy?
This seems to come up every once in awhile (even in congress). It is a pet peeve of mine. For years people have complained about the noise of traffic and just when we are on the cusp of solving that problem people have to go and spoil it. Before we start this madness lets make all the bicycles in the world have noise makers first. I have been hit/almost hit by way more bikes. In fact lets put noise makers on all the pedestrians so the car owners can hear them and don't hit them. Come on people why does someone always have to ruin a good thing. G
Anyone stopped on a quiet sidewalk to hear a prius drive by on EV mode? I did, and with the Prius at 15 MPH the tires on the road, mechanics of suspension/drivetrain, etc. it makes more than enough noise. You HEAR IT COMING. Sure it ain't a V8 HEMI rumbling the street up, but it is not 100% quiet as some imply.
There are circumstances where the car isn't quite silent. The inverter makes a high pitched "sound" in operation. I've heard the same on Hybrid Highlanders and the Hybrid Camry. The Gen III inverter sound is a bit more notable (to me). If I had to compare, I'd say the base frequency of this noise is about 3kHz. Also, if A/C is on, you'll hear the compressor cycling or running and likely cooling fans as well.
