One thing I will miss going into this future EV is the sound of a combustion engine. There is nothing like the roar of a V8 or the roar of a turbo or the scream of a V10.
Unfortunately, electric vehicles do not sound much when driving. The Department of Transportation presented the rules in 2018 which requires electric cars (and hybrids) to make sounds at low speeds to alert pedestrians to their approach. This appeared as. traffic incident reports which happens because of pedestrians not hearing the approaching vehicles. So carmakers have developed sounds for them. Lotus hopes to be the work together with music producer Patrick Patrikios will produce a full range of sounds for the upcoming electric hypercar, Evija.
The artificial sound of the engine is nothing new. It has been a thing for years in vehicles like the Lexus LFA, VW GTI, Ford Focus ST and various BMWs. (BMW calls it active sound.) Engine sound is input through the vehicle’s speakers to “improve” the sound environment. Sometimes it works. With electric vehicles, however, the artificial sound can be taken to a completely different level, because there is no motor to support the artificial sound. All the sound is artificial.
The starting point for Patrikios’ work was the legendary Lotus 49. If you’re not familiar with 49, it was a Cosworth-powered F1 car designed by Lotus founder Colin Chapman. He raced in the 1967 F1 season, making this glorious sound all the time:
49 was chosen because of its importance for the Lotus brand. As Patrikios explained:
We wanted to create a soundscape for Evija that would be recognized and distinguished by Lotus. I sat down with the development team at Hethel and discussed what it should be like. We wanted something intrinsically connected to Lotus so we could set up an audio plan for its future electric cars.
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While working to perfect the sound for Evija’s “engine,” Patrikios and Lotus noticed that the sound of the 49’s slow engine was similar to the electric noise produced by Evija’s engine. So when accelerating, Evija will use the sound of a 49 moving from zero to 186 mph. Patrikios didn’t just make engine noise for Evija. He also created every tone the car will set, from seat belt indicators to door bells. Given that the future Lotus is electric and with its impressive history of racing and road cars, maybe the artificial sounds won’t be so bad after all.