The Electric Vehicle Thread

[Texas Proud]

Maybe they had just finished supercharging. My fans run for a while right after supercharging to cool the battery back down. It can be loud. Otherwise I don’t experience the fans turning on high unless well over 95 and running the AC while parked.

I do think they were running the AC as they were sitting in the car the whole time we were in the store... maybe 15 minutes... but it was loud when I parked so who knows how long they were there...


I was just shocked how loud it was... my ICE engine was much quieter than it was but I do have a luxury car and it is quiet...

 

[explanade]

I've heard EVs humming down rather noticeably down the street, with wind and tire noise.

It wasn't much quieter than a gas car.


I think Chrysler plans to come out with EVs which will output gas engine noise, to retain the muscle car identity.

 

[ken830]

I was just shocked how loud it was... my ICE engine was much quieter than it was but I do have a luxury car and it is quiet...

I've heard EVs humming down rather noticeably down the street, with wind and tire noise.

It wasn't much quieter than a gas car.

And yet we're forced to put annoying pedestrian warning systems in EVs specifically when quiet gasoline gets are completely exempt!

I think Chrysler plans to come out with EVs which will output gas engine noise, to retain the muscle car identity.

You can already do that (ironically, jokingly) with the pedestrian warning system on the Tesla. Load up custom sound files into the USB drive.

 

[audreyh1]

I've heard EVs humming down rather noticeably down the street, with wind and tire noise.

It wasn't much quieter than a gas car.

I think Chrysler plans to come out with EVs which will output gas engine noise, to retain the muscle car identity.

That’s because the law requires EVs to make noise below 15 miles an hour to warn pedestrians in case they get snuck up on and startled or step in the path of the vehicle unknowingly.

I also notice outside our car at low speeds that it’s still a rather quiet white noise sound and you can’t hear much above the tire noise.

Meanwhile it sounds perfectly silent inside the car so doesn’t bother me.

 

[ken830]

That’s because the law requires EVs to make noise below 15 miles an hour to warn pedestrians in case they get snuck up on and startled or step in the path of the vehicle unknowingly.

I also notice outside our car at low speeds that it’s still a rather quiet white noise sound and you can’t hear much above the tire noise.

Meanwhile it sounds perfectly silent inside the car so doesn’t bother me.

I've complained about this extensively here and in other forums, but the law was written specifically for EVs, when they could've written a much simpler version broadly covering all vehicles below a certain noise level. There's no good excuse for working extra hard to ensure it only applies to EVs and NOT quiet vehicles in general. It doesn't really save any lives. It's all an attempt to take away one of many advantages of EVs. And when Tesla uses it for a fun "Boombox" feature, they got NHTSA to say they can't do that because it would be TOO noisy and prevent others from hearing the pedestrian warning sound. Another "recall." Idiotic.

All the EVs I've owned have been silent except for my newest Tesla. It's really annoying. I can hear it inside the car. I can hear my wife from the end of the block while I'm inside the house.

 

[Midpack]

I've complained about this extensively here and in other forums, but the law was written specifically for EVs, when they could've written a much simpler version broadly covering all vehicles below a certain noise level. There's no good excuse for working extra hard to ensure it only applies to EVs and NOT quiet vehicles in general. It doesn't really save any lives. It's all an attempt to take away one of many advantages of EVs. And when Tesla uses it for a fun "Boombox" feature, they got NHTSA to say they can't do that because it would be TOO noisy and prevent others from hearing the pedestrian warning sound. Another "recall." Idiotic.

All the EVs I've owned have been silent except for my newest Tesla. It's really annoying. I can hear it inside the car. I can hear my wife from the end of the block while I'm inside the house.

Actually the US Pedestrian Safety law was written between 2010-13 in response to HEVs operating in EV mode, and naturally applied to BEVs thereafter. AVAS was standard on all Toyota hybrids beginning in 2012, though NHTSA gave automakers until 2020 to comply? And there are similar laws in many countries. We’ve owned hybrids since 2007, and it was very common for us to encounter pedestrians who didn’t know we were coming up behind them when we were driving at low speeds in parking lots, crosswalks, etc. We could pull up within a few feet and they didn’t know. The blind community would be even more susceptible. The noise is a little annoying but it’s for good reason. NHTSA estimates that the new warning noises would prevent 2,800 pedestrian and cyclist injuries during the life of each model year electric and hybrid vehicle.

 

[Koolau]

And yet we're forced to put annoying pedestrian warning systems in EVs specifically when quiet gasoline gets are completely exempt!





You can already do that (ironically, jokingly) with the pedestrian warning system on the Tesla. Load up custom sound files into the USB drive.

Heh, heh, or just blow your horn!

 

[eytonxav]

I have never ridden in an EV, but I hear the whine of Teslas as they go by my house, mostly my neighbors Tesla. Another adjacent neighbor has a BMW i4 M electric which seems much quieter. The BMW neighbor tells me the car is very quiet when driving.

 

[ken830]

I have never ridden in an EV, but I hear the whine of Teslas as they go by my house, mostly my neighbors Tesla. Another adjacent neighbor has a BMW i4 M electric which seems much quieter. The BMW neighbor tells me the car is very quiet when driving.

The natural whine of a high-performance electric motor and drivetrain is very nice to listen to. The artificial ones are just kind of silly to me.

I haven't heard the i4, but I believe the i4 makes fake/weird sounds on the inside of the vehicle when driving. And some of the i4s were recalled earlier this year because they weren't properly playing the stupid pedestrian warning sounds outside of the vehicle.

 

[Koolau]

The natural whine of a high-performance electric motor and drivetrain is very nice to listen to. The artificial ones are just kind of silly to me.

I haven't heard the i4, but I believe the i4 makes fake/weird sounds on the inside of the vehicle when driving. And some of the i4s were recalled earlier this year because they weren't properly playing the stupid pedestrian warning sounds outside of the vehicle.

I've never heard any significant whine from my son's Mod. 3. I kinda listened for it because I kinda expected that sound.

 

[explanade]

I have never ridden in an EV, but I hear the whine of Teslas as they go by my house, mostly my neighbors Tesla. Another adjacent neighbor has a BMW i4 M electric which seems much quieter. The BMW neighbor tells me the car is very quiet when driving.

The natural whine of a high-performance electric motor and drivetrain is very nice to listen to. The artificial ones are just kind of silly to me.

I haven't heard the i4, but I believe the i4 makes fake/weird sounds on the inside of the vehicle when driving. And some of the i4s were recalled earlier this year because they weren't properly playing the stupid pedestrian warning sounds outside of the vehicle.

One would expect better build quality and interior materials, insulation and sound isolation from the BMW than the Tesla.

Regardless of what they sound like outside, some of these luxury marques may try to differentiate their cars with better cabin isolation, which is one of the features of their ICE cars.

 

[audreyh1]

No significant whine here either nor from the Model Y we rented.

The Model X has amazing sound deadening, but I’ve also been outside with it driving by.

 

[ken830]

Under hard acceleration, you'll hear the whine.. I can hear it very clearly in every Tesla vehicle I've ever driven under hard acceleration. To be fair, it's rare you'd ever need to use 100% "throttle", so you could realistically never hear it throughout your entire vehicle ownership. Also, it's mostly in the higher frequencies, so it's probably louder to younger folks too...

EDIT: Some of the whine isn't the motor/gearing, some of it is the inverter and those are much higher frequency..

 

[explanade]

EV design seems to emphasize more reducing the coefficient of friction.

When one of the main marketing checkbox for EVs is range, designers will try to wring efficiency.

Battery capacity is driven by financial or ROI targets of the EV program.

So they can work towards optimizing range for a given battery target by designing for the lowest coefficient of friction.

 

[audreyh1]

Under hard acceleration, you'll hear the whine.. I can hear it very clearly in every Tesla vehicle I've ever driven under hard acceleration. To be fair, it's rare you'd ever need to use 100% "throttle", so you could realistically never hear it throughout your entire vehicle ownership. Also, it's mostly in the higher frequencies, so it's probably louder to younger folks too...

EDIT: Some of the whine isn't the motor/gearing, some of it is the inverter and those are much higher frequency..

Yes, I hear that briefly on occasion, but it’s not very loud.

 

[zinger1457]

Interesting read on the inaccuracy of range numbers provided by EV manufacturers.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/new...p&cvid=21a71359a2bf493298ffd55b5ef99e96&ei=34

One reason the paper suggests for why EVs fail to match expectations is how the range is calculated. While separate city and highway range figures are computed behind closed doors, only a combined number is presented to consumers. The combined rating is weighted 55 percent in favor of the city figure, where EVs typically perform better. This inflates the range estimates, making it harder to match in real-world highway driving.
.............
The German automakers—BMW, Mercedes, Audi, and Porsche—typically provide a relatively conservative range figure, allowing us to meet or even at times exceed the range numbers in Car and Driver's real-world tests. Tesla, meanwhile, pursues an impressive figure for its window stickers, and ends up returning real-world results that are on average two times as far off the label value as most EVs. A range discrepancy between EVs from different companies might not be as extreme as the numbers would suggest. "400 miles of stated range for a Tesla and 300 miles for a Porsche is pretty much the same number at real highway speeds,"

 

[ken830]

Interesting read on the inaccuracy of range numbers provided by EV manufacturers.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/new...p&cvid=21a71359a2bf493298ffd55b5ef99e96&ei=34

Seems we can never get away from this concern from non-EV owners. Every one of those points was brought up and discussed just a few weeks ago. Pretty much all information is available from the fueleconomy.gov website. Tesla numbers are the most reliable in terms of consistency measured following the standard tests. I consistently get way better than EPA-rated efficiency in my Tesla.

In reality, if you have charging at home, it's meaningless 90+% of the time. And during long road trips, the car will just direct you to stop for brief charge sessions on your route. With decent range, quick charging, and a reliable charging network, there's hardly any reason to ever think about range. Tesla vehicles meets all of these conditions at an affordable price. Most other modern EVs meet most of these. The upcoming NACS standardization will help with the reliable charging network piece.

 

[Midpack]

Interesting read on the inaccuracy of range numbers provided by EV manufacturers.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/new...p&cvid=21a71359a2bf493298ffd55b5ef99e96&ei=34

Thank goodness all ICE vehicles always get the EPA stated MPG, and the range (miles remaining to empty) on the gas gauge is never overstated. The range figure on the gas gauge is/has been overstated more often than not on every ICE or HEV we’ve ever owned from any brand until you’re down to a quarter tank or so.

 

[Montecfo]

Since I am in the market for a car, I was speaking with a dear friend that owns a Tesla. I was curious what the EV equivalent was of a gas can to get fuel to an EV that was out of juice. She told me she once was so low in charge the car told her to get to a charger NOW.

The car directed her to one-of a nearby private individual. These folks were surprised but graciously allowed my friend to charge. Of course she was very grateful and returned later with flowers and a $100 gift card for their trouble.

It made me wonder if this happens to other folks?

I since learned that the EV equivalent of a gas can is a portable gas generator.

Are there other ideas?

 

[ken830]

Since I am in the market for a car, I was speaking with a dear friend that owns a Tesla. I was curious what the EV equivalent was of a gas can to get fuel to an EV that was out of juice. She told me she once was so low in charge the car told her to get to a charger NOW.

The car directed her to one-of a nearby private individual. These folks were surprised but graciously allowed my friend to charge. Of course she was very grateful and returned later with flowers and a $100 gift card for their trouble.

It made me wonder if this happens to other folks?

I since learned that the EV equivalent of a gas can is a portable gas generator.

Are there other ideas?

I don't know of any car that will direct you to a private residence to charge. That's weird and sounds like your friend is mistaken or misinterpreted something.

There are supposedly AAA vehicles that can charge an EV -- the idea is to get you enough to get to a proper charger.

There's no real "equivalent of a gas can" because you mostly start the day full, have advanced planning software in the vehicle, and there are literally a bajillion places to plug-in in an emergency... you're probably sitting next to an electrical outlet right now.

 

[audreyh1]

Since I am in the market for a car, I was speaking with a dear friend that owns a Tesla. I was curious what the EV equivalent was of a gas can to get fuel to an EV that was out of juice. She told me she once was so low in charge the car told her to get to a charger NOW.

The car directed her to one-of a nearby private individual. These folks were surprised but graciously allowed my friend to charge. Of course she was very grateful and returned later with flowers and a $100 gift card for their trouble.

It made me wonder if this happens to other folks?

I since learned that the EV equivalent of a gas can is a portable gas generator.

Are there other ideas?

I’ve never heard of the automatic private charger direction either! And I’ve read stories of people who dare to drive low enough to get “you won’t make it to your designated charger” warnings - and they do try to redirect you to the nearest supercharger. However RV parks are always an option and really any electrical connection if in dire straits, and crowdsourced PlugShare.com maintains a great list of all chargers (of any kind) in a given area along with overall status, availability rules, cost, etc., but these are generally somewhat public.

I think in some areas AAA provides a portable charger service. I’ve never counted on that.

 

[ken830]

And in really dire straits, and assuming you're not at sea level, you have the option of just rolling down a hill to use regen to capture some of that energy (potential to kinetic to electrical to chemical). You can also do this by having another vehicle push (or pull) you and you can capture their energy with your regen. You would probably have to modulate the regen so you don't overload and overheat the pushing vehicle. Or carry a large portable solar panel and inverter. Or even the gas generator. There are lots of ways to generate electricity. Trying to drill and refine your own gasoline would be a much more daunting task. In the event of an inevitable zombie apocalypse, I'd take the EV any day.

 

[audreyh1]

Ha, ha - I don’t think my Tesla can free roll more than what is required to pull up onto a tow truck.

 

[joesxm3]

I think I read on TMC that it does not permanently damage the Tesla battery unless you get so low that the polarity reverses. So if you did get to virtually empty you could call a flatbed for a ride to a charger. But that is very unlikely.

I don't drive cross country and my longest round trip uses only 30% of my battery.

 

[zinger1457]

Thank goodness all ICE vehicles always get the EPA stated MPG, and the range (miles remaining to empty) on the gas gauge is never overstated. The range figure on the gas gauge is/has been overstated more often than not on every ICE or HEV we’ve ever owned from any brand until you’re down to a quarter tank or so.

The article was about the accuracy of EPA estimates manufacturers advertise for their vehicles, not what the gauges read. My hybrid gets the EPA estimate, the window sticker also shows both city and highway mpg separately which is the gist of the article. Why don't EV manufacturers publish both highway and city ranges separately, in addition to the combined, since they are different and they do have that information? I would want to know both as an EV buyer.