zlacker

I was in Shanghai this year, and in the city center, it is actually unsettling how quiet it is. Every motorbike is electric and probably 70% of the cars (at least in the CBD). It's not silent by any means, but the background hum of motors is mostly absent, it took me a while to even realise that is what felt off. Like watching a movie with the sound effects removed.

>>posnet+(OP)
It’s an amazing boost to quality of living that most urban Americans don’t even realize they’re suffering from.

>>posnet+(OP)
It's kind of funny to think that the majority of the "car engine noise" in cities of the future might all be that "fake engine noise" speaker produced stuff.

>>presen+e
And suburban. At least in Texas, the road noise is inescapable, even in the early hours of the morning. It's never really silent.

>>presen+e
In reality the noise is mostly from tyres anyway. You don’t feel your neighborhood is actually quieter when most cars are EV. For me the really nice thing is kids that are barely taller than exhaust pipes or being carted are exposed to absolute ZERO emission. As a parent in a parking lot you feel much less stress.

>>meyum3+l7
Not sure where you’ve experienced but when I was in Shanghai it was definitely noticeable, nowadays I’m in Tokyo and I can’t wait for all the mopeds and motorcycles in particular to get electrified.

>>presen+Ih
Could be related to speed and asphalt and macadams. I travelled to Guangzhou a few months ago, the noise on the road is comparable to Beijing, despite having significantly higher proportion of EVs.

>>meyum3+l7
AFAIK engine noise dominates at city speeds and tire noise dominates at highway speeds.

Just yesterday I was watching a car slow down from 100 km/h to 70, much more noticeable than I expected.

>>ahartm+fE
IME, accelerating engine noise dominates, but at velocity tires are super loud on less than smooth roads — especially truck and SUV tires.

>>justin+K2
If that ends up being the case, then I hope it comes with a toggle so that it can be turned off and then most people realize how gauche it is in the way of a cell phone ringer to be broadcasting fake engine noise constantly, and then we realize for safety sake, both mental and physical, that cars should be bisected from other modes and the general public. Because we can’t deal with the noise, but we also can’t have silent vehicles rocketing through the streets, controlled by people texting with their ringers off