If this ever comes to pass, means I will not buy any electric car with this “feature.”
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration demands that the cars make a noise when travelling either forwards or backwards at speeds of less than 30km/h (19mph). The regulation covers vehicles with four wheels that weigh less than 10,000 pounds (4.5 tonnes).
The safety specification requires car makers to use a two-tone signal similar to that currently emitted by heavy vehicles when they are reversing.
Wonder if there is not more to the story here. Auto makers in general do not really want electric cars to succeed. Huge R&D costs, more reliable so far less to service. The same antipathy is present with fossil fuel producers. Both of these groups have enormous lobbying power and regulatory capture of relevant agencies.
This will probably cut the market in half or perhaps more for electric vehicles. No one wants their car to make an obscene and cabin-audible beeping noise while at low speed. I will never buy one that does this.
This reminds me of the Red Flag Laws that restricted the uptake of early automobiles.
A danger with silent electric cars is that many people listen as much as they look before stepping out into the road.
Eventually people would catch on but in the meantime there would be a lot of pedestrian injuries and deaths…
People who have bad eyesight or no eye sight are still pedestrians.
I’m not arguing against electric cars giving some sort of audible signal at low speed — I’m against them making absurdly loud and annoying beeping noises, which is what is being mandated.
This will greatly reduce the market for electric cars and is unnecessary (existing combustion-powered cars do not make those noises now).
Seems there is a false dichotomy being created here: 1) Cars will kill all the pedestrians and you hate blind people 2) Cars must make ridiculous garbage-truck-style beeping noises.
There are other choices….
I would assume some kind is pseudo motor sound would be best, but maybe they’re worried about it ‘glamorizing’ internal combustion engines.
The noise (or lack of noise) is a real problem for electric cars in the real world that will have to solved for them to become anything that a niche hobby.
I agree, but in parts of the US (like where I live) they are far beyond niche already. Sometimes, half the cars I’m pulled up at the light near are fully electric (Teslas, Nissan Leafs, various BMWs). We have an electric charging station at both of my company’s locations, too….