How EV Manufacturers Are Replicating or Reinventing Engine Noise

The roar of V8s is gone, but the sound of car culture is not. Welcome back to the DriveContact podcast, your essential Dose of Car Culture.

In this episode, we dive into how EV manufacturers are engineering the future of the driving soundtrack, shifting from natural engine noise to highly sophisticated synthetic audio.

We explore how this new era of sound design is driven by two main needs: safety and emotion.

Engineering Noise: Safety and Experience

EV manufacturers are using technology to replace silence with engineered engine noise, addressing both regulatory requirements and driver desire:

• Acoustic Vehicle Alert Systems (AVAS): This is the mandatory external sound designed to alert pedestrians, cyclists, and the visually impaired of an EV’s approach at low speeds (typically below 19 mph in the US and 20 km/h in the EU).
• Active Sound Design (ASD): This internal and external sound system goes far beyond basic alerts, generating fully synthetic performance soundtracks and other soundscapes to enhance the driver experience.
  • This system often uses real-time input from the car (speed, throttle position, motor RPM) to modulate the sound, creating a realistic, responsive audio cue.

The Digital Soundscape Battle

The move to synthetic sound has opened up a new avenue for brand identity, leading to a fascinating sonic battle between manufacturers:

• Classic Replication: Some brands digitally replicate the classic sounds of combustion engines (like the deep rumble of a V8) to maintain a sense of powerful performance and satisfy traditional enthusiasts.
• Futuristic Reinvention: Other manufacturers, often collaborating with renowned composers and sound designers (like BMW with Hans Zimmer), are choosing to reinvent a unique, futuristic sci-fi soundscape that embraces the electric era.
• Psychoacoustics: This is the science that makes these synthetic sounds feel real behind the wheel. Engineers use frequency shifting, temporal masking, and spatial audio to manipulate how the human brain perceives sound, ensuring the audio feedback is believable and visceral, even without pistons and fire.

If you love performance, tech, and the future of car culture, this episode is for you—hit play, drop a like, and make sure to subscribe so you never miss a new DriveContact podcast.