Test driving the Jaguar I-PACE

We recently took a test drive in the new Jaguar I-PACE, you can check it out on YouTube.

[youtube]Ek956vKiHI8[/youtube]

Driving a NJ plate in San Diego.

The engine sound feature they have is interesting! What did you think? It's only audible inside the car.

ChargePoint said:

The engine sound feature they have is interesting! What did you think? It's only audible inside the car.

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Cheap sales gimick
Many years ago i bought a $10 gadget that plugged into the car 12v outlet and connected via FM tuning to the car audio. It picked up ignition emf and converted it to an audio signal synced to engine rpm.
You could chose what soound simulation you preferred ..V8, FI, Harley D, Mad Frog, etc etc..
I had mine set for Muscle car V8...a big ego boost from a quiet eco hatch 4 cyl....
But you get the idea..nothing very clever or new in that trick.
PS... The novelty value soon wears off !

Harley Davidson is making their silent electric motorcycle have the classic rumble sound.

I suspect it's a tacky gimmick originating from the marketing department who had spoken to lifelong ICE-drivers who said they were used to the vroom, vroom noises. Then decided an EV would be better with engine noise...

If I was being charitable I could maybe imagine it helps people who are used to driving by ear. That is, maintain their speed based on the engine note.

Hillhater said:

The engine sound feature they have is interesting! What did you think? It's only audible inside the car.

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Yeah. Reminds me of the V-rrrr oom that I had when I was a kid. The fun of that wore off quickly as well.

[youtube]PsiKbHrHBbQ[/youtube]

Of course, just because it is a cheap gimmick doesn't mean it won't be wildly successful.

From what I've seen of online videos, one of the "EV Smile" moments people have is when they feel the torque from a standstill but with no (or minimal) noise from the vehicle. They use the phrase "like on a magic carpet".

I don't think EVs should make noise for the benefit of the driver. On the other hand, making noise for the benefit of people around them that are too busy looking at their phones while crossing the street—that's another thing.

zro-1 said:

I don't think EVs should make noise for the benefit of the driver. On the other hand, making noise for the benefit of people around them that are too busy looking at their phones while crossing the street—that's another thing.

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Agreed. Some kind of "presence" noise during slow operation (perhaps 15 mph an lower) is probably a good idea for safety.

I vote for Darwin. Leave the cars quiet, disregard the bereaved during their reality disassociation phase and soon enough the new generation will learn that situational awareness is more important than their mobile devices when crossing the street.

With all the much hyped Autonamous controls they are capeable of, and AEB being almost standard now, why can they not automatically blast the horn if a Ped/moron steps out infront of the moving EV.?
That way you have the pleasure of silent vehicles for both occupants and normal pedestrians, with the alert only when needed .

KalSteve said:

I vote for Darwin. Leave the cars quiet, disregard the bereaved during their reality disassociation phase and soon enough the new generation will learn that situational awareness is more important than their mobile devices when crossing the street.

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The problem with that is that sometimes the person not paying attention is the one in the EV.

And might not be driving on the street anymore because of it.... (happens with ICE cars, nothing different about an EV as far as that goes, and many newer ICE cars are so quiet at low speeds they might as well be silent other than tire noise, in some cases).

Punx0r said:

If I was being charitable I could maybe imagine it helps people who are used to driving by ear. That is, maintain their speed based on the engine note.

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FWIW, I hadn't realized it but I had gotten used to using the trapezoidal generic controller noise in my hubmotors to gauge my speed, subconciously.

I realized it in the last week, when I began testing the SFOC5 sinewave FOC controller over here:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=30680&start=25#p1393153
which is effectively silent in operating the motor (though it has a very annoying constant multifrequency noise (which vibrates the trike and makes a "hissing") even when not moving, that is apparently a side effect of the current-control/position-monitoring algorithms, and apparently other such controllers also make that noise. Noise or not, it's still a nice controller).

It's easy enough to still control my speed with it, but it took a bit of getting used to; as now it is more like the wind pushing me from behind, rather than a motor pulling me along.

I MUCH prefer the complete silence of the motor, over any kind of added noise, or the trap noise, etc.

Quiet motors are one of the biggest reasons I went electric instead of ICE when I got into this whole motorized-bike stuff in the first place.