These cars just look like some kind of Formula cars but there are some of important differences: - first for now all cars are more or less the same (there's no research competition behind motors or aerodynamics like in WEC or F1) - the race rules are not so meaningful to me: changing cars in the middle of the race doesn't add to the fun, why not doing 2 shorter races? I see it as a minor low budget futurist racing se…
The mention in the video that they are now able to make modifications to their cars and that will spark further innovation in the sport.
I would call it refreshingly quiet. I am not a fan of loud ICE engines in any vehicle. I do worry about the quietness of these vehicles and sight impaired pedestrians and distracted pedestrians. I wonder if there will be an adjustment period where car-pedestrian impacts increase until cars are autonomous enough to stop for those who step in front of a car, and/ or pedestrians realized they cannot rely on their hearin…
> or pedestrians realized they cannot rely on their hearing to monitor traffic at crosswalks. It's time enough. Unless you are blind, you should look both way before crossing. You shouldn't jaywalk anyway.
Jaywalking is a ridiculous American invention of a crime.
Tangential, but I keep thinking that the moment EVs have finally "made" it will be when they can compete in endurance races like 24 Hours of Le Mans against IC vehicles. The fact these Formula E races are considered quite enough to be run in populated areas is pretty sweet though. I've never attended a Motorsport event before, partly because I'd have to make a big effort to go out of town to watch any, instead of jus…
Any excuse to get better battery performance is good enough to me :)
In the old horse days in Europe (and presumably everywhere else too) lots of very nice houses were built next to roads. Nowadays as I drive past I pity them and the ugly sound-deflecting fencing and berms they have to invest in to make them habitable. I look forward to quieter cars rejuvenating these old houses. UPDATE: so my hopes are dashed :(
Unfortunately electric cars won't solve that problem. The graph on http://www.leiserstrassenverkehr.bayern.de/laerm/entstehung/ (a German government website) compares the engine noise ("Antriebsgeräusch") with the tire noise ("Rollgeräusch") for different speeds ("Gesamtgeräusch" means "total noise"). The yellow line is for trucks, the blue lines for cars.
As you can see at a speed of 40 kph (25 mph) a car's tire noise is already higher than the engine noise and at even higher speed the engine noise doesn't really matter anymore. So even if your electric car engine is absolute silent, the total noise at speeds above 30 mph won't be all that different.
In the old horse days in Europe (and presumably everywhere else too) lots of very nice houses were built next to roads. Nowadays as I drive past I pity them and the ugly sound-deflecting fencing and berms they have to invest in to make them habitable. I look forward to quieter cars rejuvenating these old houses. UPDATE: so my hopes are dashed :(
Unfortunately electric cars won't solve that problem. The graph on http://www.leiserstrassenverkehr.bayern.de/laerm/entstehung/ (a German government website) compares the engine noise ("Antriebsgeräusch") with the tire noise ("Rollgeräusch") for different speeds ("Gesamtgeräusch" means "total noise"). The yellow line is for trucks, the blue lines for cars. As you can see at a speed of 40 kph (25 mph) a car's tire noi…
Indeed. The engine noise is relevant for Formula 1, however, because high-performance race cars generally have much louder engines than commercial cars.
In the old horse days in Europe (and presumably everywhere else too) lots of very nice houses were built next to roads. Nowadays as I drive past I pity them and the ugly sound-deflecting fencing and berms they have to invest in to make them habitable. I look forward to quieter cars rejuvenating these old houses. UPDATE: so my hopes are dashed :(
This is a common misconception about roadway noise pollution. Electric Vehicles will still generate a fair amount of road noise pollution. There will be important improvements for city quality of life, mostly in reductions in the sub 35kmh acceleration/deceleration moments. But for highway speeds the reductions will not be that big. Check this interesting wikipedia article for reference. Linking to the part that list…
I don't think it's entirely a misconception. Yes, some people mistakenly think that an all-EV world will be totally silent, and it won't, but the noise reduction is still huge. In most situations, the average is much less important than the maximum, so the fact that typical noise from modern cars is mostly tires and air is irrelevant. Trucks, motorcycles, and performance cars are what make up the bulk of the annoying noise, and EV versions of those would help a lot.
> or pedestrians realized they cannot rely on their hearing to monitor traffic at crosswalks. It's time enough. Unless you are blind, you should look both way before crossing. You shouldn't jaywalk anyway.
You have that the wrong way around. The car driver should be looking before proceeding, and should be driving slow enough to stop before any pedestrian. Yes, that may mean driving through a residential area at 15 km/h. (Or even 10km/h: [1]) [1] https://collegegreensharedspace.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/...
You both have it wrong. Both cars and pedestrians must remain alert and look carefully for the other. Anything less than that gets people killed unnecessarily. Trying to pin it on one or the other is just arguing over who should pay for the headstone.
In the old horse days in Europe (and presumably everywhere else too) lots of very nice houses were built next to roads. Nowadays as I drive past I pity them and the ugly sound-deflecting fencing and berms they have to invest in to make them habitable. I look forward to quieter cars rejuvenating these old houses. UPDATE: so my hopes are dashed :(
This is a common misconception about roadway noise pollution. Electric Vehicles will still generate a fair amount of road noise pollution. There will be important improvements for city quality of life, mostly in reductions in the sub 35kmh acceleration/deceleration moments. But for highway speeds the reductions will not be that big. Check this interesting wikipedia article for reference. Linking to the part that list…
My house fronts on a 4 lane parkway. As soon as I wake up, I can tell whether or not the road out front is wet from the increased tire noise. (And indeed, we have a wooden fence of maximum legal height, set on top of some earthworks, and double-pane windows to cut the noise down to acceptable levels and I can still readily tell the difference.) The objectionable [to me] noise is mostly from tires.
Every so often, we get someone on a sport bike or sports car ripping along the parkway having some fun. That's very intermittent and far more often brings a smile to my face as I'm reminded that we can still do that...
I think OP was worried about ECs in general since they are also a lot quiter on roads compared to ICEs.
This- The implication is that this technology would make it into road cars. I also realize this isnt a new problem. The article made a point of the volume level of these cars, which will be everyone's problem when/if electric cars are mainstream.
It's mostly a problem at lower speeds, where hybrids tend to run in electric mode and thus are just as silent as pure EVs. Which is to say, this problem has already been mainstream for years.