External Sounds

Aptera Community Aptera Discussions External Sounds

Aptera Community Aptera Discussions External Sounds

  • External Sounds

    Posted by joey-lao on September 26, 2021 at 8:35 am

    With how quiet the car is, will it need to generate artificial sounds to let pedestrians know it’s there? Not sure if there’s any requirement for that but thinking for blind pedestrians or similar use case.

    Sam replied 4 months, 4 weeks ago 14 Members · 19 Replies
  • 19 Replies
  • External Sounds

    Sam updated 4 months, 4 weeks ago 14 Members · 19 Replies
  • john-malcom

    Member
    September 26, 2021 at 9:46 am

    Some jurisdictions require by law that EVs generate these sounds. Aptera will have the capability to comply with the law and also be a factor in having a safe car for pedestrians as well as occupants. Aptera will look out for everyone!

  • kerbe2705

    Member
    September 26, 2021 at 9:59 am

    In the US it’s actually a Federal requirement that all EVs and Hybrids produce some level of warning sound up to 30 kph/18.6 mph: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/02/26/2018-03721/federal-motor-vehicle-safety-standard-no-141-minimum-sound-requirements-for-hybrid-and-electric

    I work with a number of visually-impaired individuals and they’ve explained that what they hear from motor vehicles is, first and foremost, tire noise. With ICE vehicles the majority of engine noise is emitted from the rear of the vehicle, as exhaust: My VI friends say that they can tell if a car is ICE or EV only as it passes.

    Plus, as all ICEs make more-or-less the same sound, people can identify that sound as “engine noise”. With every EV making its own synthesized sound – and all of those sounds being different – it will be difficult for people to determine just what they’re hearing.

    • len

      Moderator
      September 26, 2021 at 10:11 am

      When the SOL passed me “at a hi speed (mph not known) the in-wheel motors made a winding sound outside/around the vehicle. Granted this is just an alpha vehicle and the front aero covers were not on so the front wheel cover are open…. We shall hear/see…..end of 2021 where we on on this one!

  • joshua-rosen

    Member
    September 28, 2021 at 7:41 am

    I hope they pay attention to noise deadening. The one thing I really don’t like about my Model 3 is how noisy it is, it has a tremendous amount of road noise. My Volt was much quieter and that was essentially a low end Chevy.

    • kerbe2705

      Member
      September 28, 2021 at 3:10 pm

      The newer builds of the Model 3 are significantly quieter – and will be quieter, still, as they switch over to cast subframes. The addition of acoustic glass in the door and roof windows REALLY makes a difference.

  • peter-jorgensen

    Member
    September 28, 2021 at 11:15 am

    Yes, it’s a legal requirement in the US. Here’s what my Niro EV does. It has a speaker in the front bumper.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdZwVJPN0Ow

  • llewellyn-evans

    Member
    September 28, 2021 at 2:49 pm

    How about a sonar Ping sound that increases in frequency as you get closer to any object behind.

    ping…….ping….ping..pingpingpinping

  • david-marlow

    Member
    September 28, 2021 at 2:52 pm

    It should not be hard to give us a choice of sounds.

    I would like to have a choice of the Jetsons car sound.

    • kerbe2705

      Member
      September 28, 2021 at 3:08 pm

      I would like that very much, myself – although I fear it may be copyrighted, this video notwithstanding… https://youtu.be/LnT1VgeXOF0

    • brian-albury-albury

      Member
      June 28, 2022 at 4:09 am

      I’d pay for a Jetson car sound upgrade. 😆

  • kerbe2705

    Member
    September 28, 2021 at 3:19 pm

    This is the AVAS (Acoustic Vehicle Alert Sound) of my Honda Clarity pulling into and out of the garage. The only place you can really hear it is when it’s indoors – and it cuts out at 12 mph. The 2020 models, though, have the same sound only significantly louder – and it plays until the regulation speed of 18.6 mph (30 kph) is reached. https://youtu.be/2kdb3D29Wmc

  • peter-jorgensen

    Member
    September 28, 2021 at 3:46 pm

    I would just like to be able to upload a custom sound…

  • ROMAD

    Member
    June 26, 2022 at 7:56 am

    With our Prius the main problem was when backing up. Toyota put a sound to let you know you were in reverse but it was not audible outside. So first I put in one of those little 12vdc beepers wired in parallel with the left backup light; however people still walked directly behind the Prius when I was backing up. So I went to Amazon and ordered the Wolo BA-70 that says: “Attention Please. This Car Is Backing Up.” repeatedly until you shift out of Reverse. This I was able to mount inside the bumper cover and again wired it to the left backup light. The result? People STILL walked behind me when I was backing up! Never underestimate the stupidity of the average human.

    That said however, I’ll probably put a Wolo BA-70 in the Aptera.

  • kerbe2705

    Member
    July 13, 2022 at 9:08 pm
  • jemeurekon-mexplick

    Member
    October 21, 2022 at 9:21 am

    Hi, I’d like to see that feature in the final product.

    It’s very easy to implement. So if you have other feature that easy, ask it here, hoping Aptera will take them in account.

    • Feature 1=

    I will have to drive (slowly) in small streets among pedestrians very used to abuse (their right of use the street).

    If pedestrians hear a horse coming behind them, they will have the reflex to move away.

    ( If a car is absolutely silent when it moves, then shit happens. )

    So I need a button that will generate that sound outside (accorded to my speed, kiticlop, kataklop’, dratakla’ …)🐴

    Easy, no ?

    • harry-parker

      Moderator
      October 21, 2022 at 8:03 pm

      Love it! 😃

  • glenn-zajic

    Member
    October 22, 2022 at 9:47 am

    Dumb question, but I just don’t know. Do all EVs make a slow speed sound as they slow down and speed up at every intersection? Seems like I have only heard a few compared to the number of vehicles I have seen on the road.

    • harry-parker

      Moderator
      October 22, 2022 at 3:57 pm

      That’s the current law for electric cars. I doubt the law applies to motor or auto-cycles.

      It didn’t exist in 2013 when my Chevy Volt was made, so that noise making law is fairly recent. (I love sneaking up on people in parking lots.😁) Instead, the Volt came with a special pedestrian horn that wasn’t so scary loud as the normal car horn.

  • Sam

    Member
    October 22, 2022 at 4:08 pm

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