Noise device required on new European EVs

Electric vehicles are so quiet they can catch pedestrians and cyclists unawares.

That’s become an acute concern for safety campaigners, who fear that the rising number of EV constitutes a silent menace, The Guardian reports

When they travel at under 32km/h the vehicles can barely be heard, especially by cyclists or pedestrians with headphones.

“The greatest risks associated with electric vehicles are when they are travelling at low speeds, such as in urban areas with lower limits, as the noise from tyres and the road surface, and aerodynamic noise, are minimal at those speeds,” Kevin Clinton from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents says.

From July next year, all new electric and hybrid vehicles sold in Europe will have to emit a noise when travelling at low speeds. All existing ones will have to be retrofitted with a device by 2021.

The agreed standard is a mix of tonal sounds, or white noise, that will cut out once the vehicle gets to about 32km/h and the sound of the tyres becomes sufficiently audible.

The law has been welcomed by campaigners.

James White, at the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, is worried about the risk the cars pose to people with sight loss. He says that for people who struggle to see them, the vehicles should indicate their presence in other ways.

Research shows electric cars are about 40% more likely to hit a pedestrian than a conventional vehicle. One study suggests that 93% of blind and partially sighted people have had problems with them. “It is a really important issue,” White says.

In Japan there was a national outcry when a guide dog and its owner were killed by a reversing electric vehicle whose driver had used a pause control to deactivate its sound emitter. The new standards, which in Europe will be introduced via an EU directive, will bar use of pause controls.