• Amerikan Pharaoh@lemmygrad.ml
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    1 year ago

    Probably a heathenous take around here; but if an electric car can’t sound like it’s got a beast under its hood, I don’t want to think about the noise a car is making. If you can’t be muscle, be silent is my take on electric cars; I grew up on motor shows and drag strips. Electric whine just don’t sound right.

    • Tankiedesantski [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      If you can’t be muscle, be silent is my take on electric cars

      Well, silent electric cars are kind of a menace from a pedestrian safety perspective. They should make some noise on the outside at least.

      • gramathy@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        White noise at an audible level is a significant improvement over the noise pollution of ICE vehicles (though small commuter cars do tend to be relatively quiet)

      • MeowZedong@lemmygrad.ml
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        1 year ago

        All cars are a menace from any perspective but that of the car.

        The only time electric cars make too little noise to hear is when they are driving at speeds that aren’t guaranteed to kill you. After about 30mph/50kph, the vast majority of sound comes from the tires unless you drive one of those horrendously loud trucks or motorcycles.

        Muscle cars are cool at car shows, but not passing through neighborhoods or areas where people are trying to enjoy talking outdoors.

        • Helmic [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          30 mph is about hte speed limit in school zones where a kid is most likely to get hit by a car to begin with, though. Or where the assumption that cars make noise has lead to inane road layouts where parked vehicles or shubbery obscure oncoming traffic.

          • MeowZedong@lemmygrad.ml
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            1 year ago

            Absolutely. I think the main issue has been with electric vehicles backing up?

            Either way, I’m vehemently anticar, so I just want to beat the “Trains, Bikes, Buses, and Better Urban Planning” drum. Trying my damnedest to replace all of my driving with biking has actually had a great impact on my life aside from the cost savings and health benefits. Biking is enjoyable for me while driving is stressful. Granted, I understand this isn’t viable for everyone within the current infrastructure of most US cities. The US just needs to do better…on every front. :)

        • Owl [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          Programming my car to use GPS to figure out what the most prominent large predator is in the area so it can play appropriate animal-spooking sounds.

    • plinky [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      I think whine is a function of shit building tbh.

      but they do have some regulation in eu to make some sort of noise, tire rolling is very quiet, and low rpm electric is silent

      • EmmaGoldman [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.netM
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        1 year ago

        EV “whine” that you can hear inside the vehicle is a factor of three things: pedestrian safety sounds, tire noise, and wind noise. The only street legal EVs in North America that have substantial whine are Koenigsegg hypercars with straight cut gears, not commuter vehicles.

        In some cars, you can hear inverter noise under full 100% acceleration from low speeds, but most people aren’t doing drag strip launches in the day to day unless they’re obnoxious Tesla dudes.

      • Amerikan Pharaoh@lemmygrad.ml
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        1 year ago

        I think Toyota’s working on something like that for a concept EV they’ve got coming? Think it was an ArsTechnica dude who wrote on it but apparently, it’s got a completely ersatz manual transmission that still tacks that feel of a traditional engine to the lessened runoff of an EV; and honestly? More EV manufacturers need to glom onto this.

      • mar_k [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        Should be automatically muted when you’re in dense/city areas with a lot of traffic though tbh. I usually wear headphones and listen to shit on my walking commute, but whenever I forget them or they’re dead the sound of cars around me is just mad unpeaceful