A debate I bet no one thought we’d be having. Here’s the problem:
Electric cars that use 100% electric motive power generate very little noise of their own–which is a good thing, as noise constitutes wasted energy. But lawmakers and road-safety advocates are concerned that e-vehicles will thus pose a danger to pedestrians and other road users, used to checking for the sound of an oncoming vehicle before crossing the road…
Also for high-performance electric sports cars like the Tesla Roadster, the experience isn’t complete without the growl. So you can customize the engine sound a la cellphone ringtones:
The tuning house [Brabus] is seeking to give the Tesla a more exciting, albeit completely faked, running sound with electronically produced effects. Owners will be able to set their Tesla to make noises approximating a V-8 engine, a racecar engine, or “two futuristic soundscapes.” Those last two effects are named “Beam” and “Warp,”