Hacker News Reader

Comment by Dalewyn | Hacker News Reader

Family having owned a Nissan Leaf and otherwise bearing witness to EVs and hybrids in motor-only mode, I feel like the noise they generate to try and alert nearby people are badly designed for two big reasons:

* The noise is very high pitched. Older people simply aren't going to hear it as their hearing naturally degrades.

* The noise is not at all the sounds from an engine. That EV alert noise is throwing away entire lifetimes' worth of training to be wary of nearby engines noises and sirens.

People meme often about EVs pumping out engine noises over the interior stereo system, but honestly that should be played extra loud on the outside for all to hear.

View on HN

> The noise is not at all the sounds from an engine.

One reason is of course that engine noise is the bane of many neighborhoods and not a sound they want to keep hearing for centuries.

Noise pollution has been taken way more seriously in recent years and we sure need to find a balance with security in cases like this.

The electric noise on my vehicle is far worse than the engine noise.

This is objectively false. Source: I have ears and hate living near freeways.

I don’t think that’s how the word “objectively” works. Was this a joke?

No, he's right. At low speed it's a wash, let's say the EV sound is worst (really depends on the ICE here, but let's assume luxury brand with recognizable motor noise). At medium to high speed? there is no comparisons, ICE are way louder.

I live on a 45 mph road.

Yes, there are large trucks that are loud, but nearly all of the noise comes from the tires.

I live on a 45 mph road. Some ICE are loud, but at 45 mph the majority of cars are generating more noise from tires hitting the road than the engine producing power.

We have a hybrid car, and I don't think it makes any extraneous noise at all while driving on battery, other than the standard electric motor noise.

I think he's referring to the noise automakers were forced to add to be broadcast anytime the car is moving at less than 30km/hr. This happened in 2020.

Too bad they just didn't mandate automatic breaks. At this speed automatic breaking when the car is about to hit something should be easy and safe.

At 30km/h breaking distance is just 5m and that's taking into account slow human reflexes. Machine should be able to detect anything within that range and break soon and hard to reduce it even further.

Pedestrian AEB will be standard on all passenger cars and light trucks by September 2029.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com