How Nissan Alerts Pedestrians to Quiet Electric Vehicles
When you’re walking around the streets of your city, you generally don’t have to do a lot of looking to determine if vehicles are nearby. You can hear them. It’s still a good idea to look both ways before crossing the street, however, as modern vehicles have been getting quieter and quieter.
Still, anything with a combustion engine is going to produce some noise. But, what about electric cars? Well, since fully electric cars are powered by an electric motor, they tend to drive really silently. And we mean REALLY silent. So silent that you may not be able to tell when one is driving nearby.
How to Hear Electric Cars
Of course, this makes it even more important that you are looking both ways before crossing the road. But, features are being put into place to ensure that pedestrians receive audible warnings when an electric car is nearby as well.
New US regulations go into effect on Sept. 1 of 2020 that will set standards for vehicle volume. Nissan has made sure that its popular electric car, the LEAF, is in line with these standards by adding another speaker to the engine compartment. The speaker will emit a constant tone known as Canto during any forward movement over 18.6 mph, while a pulsing chime sound will be emitted when the car is backing up.
Nissan even put this to the test recently, equipping the LEAF with some holiday-inspired pedestrian warning sounds. They combined Jingle Bells and Angles We Have Heard On High to celebrate the Christmas season.
[Read more: What is Nissan bringing to CES 2020]
It’s pretty clear that Nissan is at the forefront of electric vehicle capability and technology. Be sure to check back to the Charlie Clark Nissan El Paso blog to learn more about your favorite Nissan models.
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