Electric Vehicles Must Make Noise
All new EVs, hybrids and PHEVs must emit audible warnings following new EU law.
July 18, 2019
Concerns were raised that electric vehicles were too quiet and thus posed as a threat to pedestrians. To solve this, a new law was passed on 1st July 2019 which states all new electric vehicles must be fitted with an Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) to ensure pedestrians are well aware of surrounding vehicles.
The system will work at 12mph and below which is when current electric vehicles seem to be too quiet, for example, in situations such as reversing. Vehicles will mimic engine noise up to 15mph and merge into mechanical electric motor noise beyond 19mph.
The law has been put in place to help prevent potential accidents and injury as well as “give pedestrians added confidence when crossing the road” according to Michael Ellis, Road Minister, Department for Transport.
He raised his concerns for the visually impaired and expressed how the government wished for “the benefits of green transport to be felt by everyone”.
This reminds us of Nissan’s electric IMx concept revealed at the Tokyo Motor Show back in 2017. The Japanese car manufacturer realised quite early on the risk of electric vehicles being too quiet and released the concept with a suite of sounds which they called “Canto” – translated as “I Sing”.
Who else remembers the IMx concept?
