One of the big ups of having an electric vehicle is the silence that comes along. Of course, it seems more like a matter of taste since there are many who love the ‘roar’ of their car powered by a gasoline engine and others who enjoy identifying and telling apart vehicles based on the sound they make. But, when it comes to electric vehicles, all you hear is the sound of the rubber on the road and nothing else. Although, this is changing fast with electric cars installing unique sounds of their own to signify their presence on the roads. Car manufacturer, Audi too is going a step further to make sure you hear and identify their line of ‘e-tron’ cars no matter where they are on the road.
The acoustic experts at Audi have worked now for more than three years trying to design the hardware, software and the sounds that will make the e-tron have its own audio personality. That seems like an appropriate thing to sport, as it is coming from a company whose name itself means ‘sound’ in German. The new e-tron cars might well have a sound that seems similar to a cross between the roar of a F1 car on track to a bit of Star Trek like sounds. It has tried and captured the uniqueness of an EV along with portraying the futuristic edge that it holds over the others on the road.
The sound will come from a 40W speaker that will be hooked to the bottom of the car and it will also help those visually challenged know that a car is on its way. The jury is still out on whether all electric cars should have the same sound or not for the sake of those who do not have perfect sight, but let that issue sort itself out. Until then, Audi and other EV makers will surely try to up the novelty factor of EVs using sound as well.
Via: Autoblog
