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Artificial sounds on EVs.

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Busaholic

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Most of them had classic DC motor noises.
Yes, I used to 'help' the Express Dairies' milkman with his round - he'd been trodden on by his previous horse (true!)- and I can confirm the noise of the motor. On the other hand, I remember seeing the Harrod's electric delivery vans and don't remember the same whine from those.
 

AM9

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Yet, electric locomotives/EMU's are quite noisy when running.
I guess it's a difference in voltage/power?
Yes the power used by the cooling fans alone on a class 90 would be enough to drive a small EV along the road.
 

PeterC

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I certainly didn't hear an EV crawling behind me as I walked back to my car in the motorway services car park yesterday. I have also seen pedestrians unaware that an EV was behind them in other shared spaces.

As a driver I would prefer to have peds aware of my vehicle when manouvering or negotiating shared spaces such as car parks without the need to do something perceived as "aggressive" such as using the horn.
 

MotCO

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I wonder if the sounds will evolve like ring tones have. How about a blast of Carmina Burana, or Jerusalem?
 

AndrewE

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My reaction is that the need is blindingly obvious, and as a cyclist I use my (non-threatening) little bell frequently to warn of my presence. As a pedestrian (or when cycling) I definitely don't want something big and heavy sneaking up behind me with no warning of its approach.
I just hope that the "Little Englanders" don't seize on this as an example of the intolerable European interference with our right to poison or maim ourselves (rather than accept an agreed harmonised response to a real problem.)
 

edwin_m

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Sooner or later somebody will work out how to interface one of these to a DCC sound decoder and you can have your railway sound of choice. But I'd like to think there would be a mandatory limit on the volume and the cutout mentioned at a speed where tyre noise is loud enough to give warning would be legally enforceable too. If nothing else an excessively noisy vehicle is dangerous because it masks the sound of quieter ones.
 

billh

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Accelerating away from the lights accompanied by EE 16SVT music turned up to "eleven".:D
That's an Electric Vehicle isn't it?
Showing me age there!
 

Bletchleyite

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:)

One thing I've long wondered, along these lines, is why cars only have an aggressive sounding horn, and don't have a less aggressive "toot toot, I'm here, mind your back" type sound. Metrolink trams have this feature (the pleasant "toooooot" and the almighty scream), and when I'm cycling I have the same option, the bell being a fairly pleasant "mind out, there's a bike behind you, do you mind moving over a little please?" kind of noise, but I retain the option to shout loudly if someone steps (or more commonly allows a dog on a long lead to stray) directly into my path in a manner I would have no way to avoid hitting them unless they moved.

Such a less aggressive sound could also be used as a reversing bleeper.
 

Mojo

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As a driver I would prefer to have peds aware of my vehicle when manouvering or negotiating shared spaces such as car parks without the need to do something perceived as "aggressive" such as using the horn.
I've often sometimes wished for the equivalent of a Tram bell on my car to let people know of my presence.

I did see this on Youtube a few years ago, a guy who fitted a "nice" horn onto his car:
 

Ianno87

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:)

One thing I've long wondered, along these lines, is why cars only have an aggressive sounding horn, and don't have a less aggressive "toot toot, I'm here, mind your back" type sound. Metrolink trams have this feature (the pleasant "toooooot" and the almighty scream), and when I'm cycling I have the same option, the bell being a fairly pleasant "mind out, there's a bike behind you, do you mind moving over a little please?" kind of noise, but I retain the option to shout loudly if someone steps (or more commonly allows a dog on a long lead to stray) directly into my path in a manner I would have no way to avoid hitting them unless they moved.

Agree. You use the horn for it's actual purpose (i.e. a warning of your presence) and everyone assumes you're being aggressive.

Ideally of course, nobody would use horns to vent frustration in the process.

In Europe for example, use of horns on motorways is common when overtaking as a 'be aware, I'm coming past you'.
 

Meerkat

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In Europe for example, use of horns on motorways is common when overtaking as a 'be aware, I'm coming past you'.

Where? I have done some long trips through Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland and never heard anyone sound the horn.
Some Germans indicated, but that is illegal now (which I don’t understand)
 

EssexGonzo

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Having a hybrid, this is necessary. When pootling on electric power, the hard of thinking can be taken by surprise.

And the noise should be Brian Blessed shouting: "Look up from your ****** phones!"
 

AndrewE

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Where? I have done some long trips through Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland and never heard anyone sound the horn. Some Germans indicated, but that is illegal now (which I don’t understand)
I think hooting used to be mandatory when overtaking in Italy & maybe France (a long time ago.)
Having a hybrid, this is necessary. When pootling on electric power, the hard of thinking can be taken by surprise.
And the noise should be Brian Blessed shouting: "Look up from your ****** phones!"
It's not just ev's that need this. Almost any faster-than-average person needs it: fast walkers, cyclists, the list is endless. I give a gentle "ding" then shout "WATCH OUT! This IS a cycle path!"
Anyone remember the Private Eye cartoon showing a smartphone user walking along the pavement, head down, saying "I have this brilliant app, it tells me where to walk!"
 

GoneSouth

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Having a hybrid, this is necessary. When pootling on electric power, the hard of thinking can be taken by surprise.

And the noise should be Brian Blessed shouting: "Look up from your ****** phones!"
We were talking about visually impaired people earlier in the thread, I hope you weren’t suggesting they all fall into the hard if thinking category!

I do take your point that Brian Blessed would make a fine warning sound, just not necessarily that phrase :D
 

Giugiaro

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One thing I've long wondered, along these lines, is why cars only have an aggressive sounding horn, and don't have a less aggressive "toot toot, I'm here, mind your back" type sound.
I've often sometimes wished for the equivalent of a Tram bell on my car to let people know of my presence.

I think it also depends on the horn installed on the car.
I have a FIAT Panda 169 and the horn it has is pretty inoffensive, unless you really press hard on the horn!
I've noticed that the little Panda can have the horn sounded from two small triggers close to the ring of the steering wheel, and if you tap each side consecutively you get a very playful "ti-ri".
But if you press hard and longer on the centre of the steering wheel the horn sounds louder and screechy.

I've sounded horns of other cars and, specially the German ones, sound awfully aggressive even with a small "tap".
 

Cowley

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I think it also depends on the horn installed on the car.
I have a FIAT Panda 169 and the horn it has is pretty inoffensive, unless you really press hard on the horn!
I've noticed that the little Panda can have the horn sounded from two small triggers close to the ring of the steering wheel, and if you tap each side consecutively you get a very playful "ti-ri".
But if you press hard and longer on the centre of the steering wheel the horn sounds louder and screechy.

I've sounded horns of other cars and, specially the German ones, sound awfully aggressive even with a small "tap".
My Sprinter has a kind of two tone horn effect. If I press it quickly and gently it makes a little tooting noise.
If I press it harder it makes a proper “HONK” that sends Vauxhall drivers scurrying for safety...
Basically it’s slightly faulty*, but once you’ve worked out how to use it you can get a few different types of sound out of it that can come in quite useful on the road.

* A coach driver reversed into it a few years ago and it’s never quite been the same since...
 

Lucan

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I wonder if the sounds will evolve like ring tones have. How about a blast of Carmina Burana, or Jerusalem?
While this is early days, there will be a need for a standard for the sound. If it is variable it will add to the reaction time of anyone who needs to recognise it - they would first need to puzzle out what the sound is (music from an open window? helicopter? etc).

In the 1970s a similar thing happened with car horns - it was realised that there were no regulations about what a car horn should actually sound like, so there arose a fad among a section of the population for ones that played tunes (Halfords sold them, powered with an air pump) and they were getting louder and lengthier to the point of being a public nuisance. They got banned.
 

robbeech

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How did we cope when the milk floats were battery powered? Maybe it was the clink of the milk bottles that acted as an audible warning :)
They often weren’t able to gain enough speed to keep up with a pedestrian. :)
 
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