DETROIT — Do electric cars feel like science fiction still? Maybe in one respect: sound — or lack of sound, since the expected internal-combustion engine noises are absent. General Motors is thinking this over, and you will be relieved to know that the Chevrolet Volt will have a unique sound that will not attempt to imitate, say, the Chevrolet Corvette.
Frank Weber, General Motors E-Flex vehicle line executive, called the Volt's sound "highly technical" and compared it to "when on Spaceship
[sic] Enterprise you hear the doors close, or use the transporter." In an interview published on the Volt-specific Web site gm-volt.com, Weber said the Volt's sound will "have no relation at all to a combustion engine" and will be "highly pleasing, almost imperceptible."
Groups looking to protect the visually impaired from the danger of silent vehicles have introduced legislation to require electric vehicles to have a sound. In a nod to this concern, Weber said the Volt will have "a pedestrian-friendly alert" that is driver activated. "You would activate it much like you would your high-beam," he said.
He waxed psychological in thinking about the "power feedback" drivers expect from starting a car — and accused hybrids currently on the market of being "weak in that regard." Although he said the idea was still in progress and gave few details, Weber said the Volt will have "very clear and intuitive feedback from the car telling you what state it is in" on starting.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=134728
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