Making electric vehicles louder: Can you hear them coming?

I pick sound 2.

Easy!, just put a cigarette card touching the spokes. It worked when I was a kid

How about looking both ways before you step out into the street. Didn't we learn this as kids? Deaf people do it all the time. This seems like a solution looking for a problem.

I agree - if a pedestrian needs noise from a car, they are not looking at traffic. Silent cars might be a good thing - convince people to pay attention when crossing a street (instead of texting...). Quiet cars are good.

While driving, I don't hear much noise from cars - my car is either well sound-proofed or so noisy I can't hear anything else.

If they must be made more noticeable, use something visual. If you have a lot of cars making noise, none will stand out (unless you are looking at them). But, if the manufacturers add artificial sound, at least let the consumer make a personal selection from an approved list. Don't let the consumer choose their own sound, else we'll have FoS lawsuits and obscenity charges clogging the courts.

as someone who uses the ultimate 'green' vehicle (bicycle) I am often startled by electric or hybrid cars that pass me on the road. it's not just the silence of the electric motors, but also the very low Cd (coefficient of drag) these cars have, which in turn produces very little aerodynamic noise ("whooshing").

and while I don't change lanes or cross intersections without looking, I would welcome something that would make hybrid/EV cars more noticeable.

@rmakara1, I have a suspicion that your longest walk is from your car door to the gas pump and back. You just don't get it.

While I can almost give you the first part of your comment to me, I still think looking before you walk out into a street is just common sense. And that's with current cars that make noise. I'm not anti-electric. Self preservation is just still pretty high on my daily short list.

the noise an ev should make is NONE. any noise is lost power to roll the wheels
Perhaps we should make pretty ladies cover up? in 1917 my uncle was run over and killed while on a bicycle because the driverwas distracted by a pretty lady in bernardsville, Nj

A little bit of sound from these vehicles would help me too. I drive an electric trike and my trike makes more noise than these cars. People can hear me coming from a block away easy.
It makes for a safer more visible and audible car.
Insurance rates would increase if no noise paved the way for more accidents too.

As a person with later-in-life mild hearing impairment, I got the electric specifically because it was quiet. The more non-necessary noise there is, the higher my irritability from having to focus that much more on whether I hear an ambulance/police car or anyone in the car talking. No noise, no rattling, these cars are a dream, why anyone would want more noise in their life, despite what everyone above has said, just doesn't resonate with any research on a healthy life.

I vote for quiet. Instead of having every electric vehicle make some sort of artificial noise just have them transmit a short range signal possibly using the well-known technology of Bluetooth. The blind or hard of hearing can wear a corresponding receiver which will alert them as to range and location of approaching vehicles allowing the rest of us to once again live in quiet.

Terry Thomas
Atlanta

Ok... I can see the point of having a car make noise. It's a safety issue. But does the noise have to be annoying to make it safe? I'll pass, thanks.

Most cars are already noiseless except for the sound of the tires rolling and the air rushing around them. If we need to add noise to electric cars then we should do it to all cars, this is just plain dumb.

We all want one but with the $600 a month payment, that's darn steep for the average guy. Then there's the question about how they're designed. I happen to live in a wheelchair that would require I always have someone with me just so it could be folded and unfolded in the small rear area. We not only need to drop the cost, but also make them more usable overall. I'm waiting and will get one, but the cost of batteries is what's holding us back. Please hurry - I can't wait!

So, does this mean that deaf people are being run over in droves by gas cars because they cant hear them?

This is a temporary problem because people aren't used to quite cars. Lets not set a preceident by requiring vehicles to make noise. Scooters, bicycles, runners? Where does this end? Are deaf people startled by each car that passes them?