In a recent turn of events, government of India has issued new set of norms proposed by the Central government’s Automotive Industry Standards Committee (AISC) to make electric cars noisier while in operation.
Automakers will soon need to develop some kind of sound for electric cars either by natural or artificial means for alerting pedestrians and people nearby
The norms apply to both passenger cars as well as goods carriers. These latest draft standards might soon be inducted into the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, by its Technical Standing Committee.
As per the new rules, EV manufacturers need to work on their powertrains to make them produce some kind of sound for electric cars when on the move. If such a thing couldn’t be achieved, an Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS), that’s similar to a loudspeaker, needs to be installed.
But, the problem is that such a loudspeaker might drain the battery even further when manufacturers are already facing a lot of trouble with respect to increasing the real-world range of their EVs.
While sound for electric cars does alert nearby people, it will also cause noise pollution in the long run. Also, these norms come at a time when manufacturers like Hyundai have mastered the art of making nearly silent IC engines.
Today, petrol IC engines are incredibly quite in most parts of their powerband
Once these standards are implemented, EV manufacturers are expected to introduce helical gear pair primary transmissions in their offerings to produce a whining note.
Currently, 2-wheeler manufacturers – Harley Davidson and Triumph have adopted a similar strategy in their EVs for producing natural sound from their EV powertrains.
But, at the end of the day, sound energy in any form comes at the expense of something else, read battery charge.
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