There is growing opinion amongst electric vehicle drivers that the lack of engine noise is leading to more and more people speeding in their EV. Is this your experience? Do you believe it? It does kind of make sense when you think about it?
Mark
It’s true with me. No engine noise coupled with very little road or windnoise make it difficult to quickly judge speed. I have to be extra carefull when passing through the small town speed traps. A friends wife was driving her Focus E.V. and got pulled over. She wasn’t ticketed but when the porcine town cop found out she was driving electric he was kind enough to tell her she was “stupid” to drive one! That takes some serious tongue biting on her part to avoid being fined!
Hi Sugarmaker
This is an interesting downside of electric vehicles which had never even crossed my mind before.
Regards,
Mark
I agree , I find myself going to fast often, there is no reving noise when you accelerate, so you don’t notice it as much.
i’ll look down and i am going 80, with nice, smooth, silent ride !!
Does anyone think that manufacturers should add engine noises to the modern day EV for safety reasons?
My EV is no where as fast as my Dino car so for me, I am not driving my EV faster.
My first generation EV (an ICE converted to EP) wasn’t exactly a speedster. Having limited range (approx 30 miles) I tended to hyper-mile which meant slow easy acceleration & traveling at or below the speed limit. The only time I tended to speed was rolling down hills to gain speed to get back up the other side. Other than that, I found myself pretty much driving like a little old lady. No speeding tickets here.
Yeah, I speed in it. But I don’t drive excessively fast speeds because it is limited to about 75 mph.
It has nothing to do with the noise. It is more the fact that I have no worries about fuel costs.
[QUOTE=Editor;15632]Does anyone think that manufacturers should add engine noises to the modern day EV for safety reasons?[/QUOTE]
No, there is no reason to add in noise as most all modern cars are actually quite quiet. A horn is required in all cars so if you need to alert someone just use the HORN. They do actually work you know. If your going to be a pedestrian then YOU need to also watch out. Pedestrians don’t have RULE OF THE ROAD. If your a pedestrian and don’t watch and get hit, so sad, too bad should be paying attention. Far too many don’t.
I drive a converted Porsche 914, and I drive it faster because that is who I am. If my Ford Ranger pickup had the same pep on the freeway, I would drive it the same way. I drive faster because I love how it feels, and I enjoy the freedom to maneuver.
McB
914electric.wordpress_dotcom
Hi, Yes I agree I tend to drive faster in an ev. I have a home converted 1987 Ford Ranger and I have a $175.00 ticket which says so too.
-Doug (Canada)
If, as many people seem to suggest, there is a temptation to drive faster in your electric vehicle, should electric vehicle manufacturers introduce some kind of warning system? There is talk of adding “noise” to a vehicle’s engine, would this help?
I think this is a non issue. A lot of modern gasoline cars have enough sound deadening insulation between the engine & the passenger compartment that you can barely hear the engine. Should we remove the sound insulation so that the driver can tell how fast he’s going? No of course not.
[B]There’s already technology built into every car, electric or gasoline, to deal with this issue. It’s called a speedometer.[/B]
Yes, I too sometimes exceed the limit. The residential speed limit here in town is 25, and I often find myself topping 26 or 27 (unless going uphill) in my GEM!
Eric
Is it the noise of the engine and the revs on a gasoline car which stop us from going too fast? I was driving the other day with my ipod on and found myself going faster than I normally would - I think it was because I could not hear the engine for the sound of the music. Interesting how engine noise seems to stop us from going excessively fast?
What music were you listening to? There’s been studies about how certain types of music can effect the weight of your right foot. Same applies to music volume, the louder it is, the faster you go.
Another thought is that engine noise is only dominant at low speed. Once you get going, noise from the wind, drive-train & tires can easily exceed that of the engine. So at freeway speeds there’s not much difference between an ICE & an EV.
Now if we’re talking about acceleration, then I’d agree a gas engine offers more audible feedback than an EV. If you can hear the engine reving hard you may let off your foot some. That feedback might not be as obvious in a quiet EV.
I’m not convinced however that EVs cause people to speed. And even if they do, I’m betting that “effect” wares off quickly once someone is used to driving one.
Hi Nodd
Some great points there - the chances are that if there is indeed an effect on your speed when driving an EV it will ware off in due course.
Regards,
Mark
Usually texting and not looking up to see what that no noise is.
I seen…