New electric cars must be fitted with a device to make FAKE engine noises

New electric cars must be fitted with a device to make FAKE engine noises because they are too quiet and are a danger to pedestrians

Electric cars are being fitted with devices that makes a fake engine noise
New rules state models must come with an acoustic vehicle alert system
Noise is activated when car is reversing or travelling below 12.5 miles an hour
Drivers can switch off system if they deem it appropriate

By James Salmon Transport Editor For The Daily Mail

Published: 01:16 BST, 1 July 2019 | Updated: 08:23 BST, 1 July 2019

All new electric cars are being fitted with a device that makes fake engine noises – after safety campaigners warned they are too quiet and pose a danger to pedestrians.

New car models must come with an acoustic vehicle alert system (Avas) from today, including hybrids, so that other road users can hear them.

The noises will mimic the sound of a conventional engine and will be activated if the car is reversing or travelling below 12.5 miles an hour. However, drivers can switch off the system if they deem it appropriate – for example in slow-moving traffic on a motorway.

New car models must come with an acoustic vehicle alert system (Avas) from today, including hybrids, so that other road users can hear them. Pictured: The Nissan Leaf electric car which is already using the system

The directive from the European Union, which will be enforced in the UK whether or not Brexit happens, will also apply to all new electric and hybrid cars registered in the bloc from July 2021 – not just new models.

The Department for Transport said the new precautions should give ‘added confidence’ to vulnerable road users including the blind and partially sighted.

Roads minister Michael Ellis said: ‘The Government wants the benefits of green transport to be felt by everyone, and understands the concerns of the visually impaired about the possible hazards posed by quiet electric vehicles.’

The law has been welcomed by campaigners including Guide Dogs for the Blind, which said electric cars are 40 per cent more likely to hit a pedestrian than a normal vehicle.

Spokesman John Welsman said: ‘There are two million children and adults living in the UK affected by sight loss and the rise in electric and hybrid vehicles pose a significant risk to them… We are delighted that from today it is now compulsory for new models to have an Avas built in.’

Currently just 57,000 of the 35million cars on Britain’s roads are fully electric. But the National Grid had predicted there could be as many as 9million by 2030.

EU will make it mandatory for ALL hybrid and electric cars to make a sound at low speeds from 2021

by Rob Hull, This is Money

A report by the Guide Dogs charity found that pedestrians are 40 per cent more likely to be run over by a quiet hybrid or electric car than by one with a petrol or diesel engine.

And as the number of green vehicles grows because of Government tax breaks for eco-friendly cars, the number of injuries they cause has been rising fast, it said.

The research showed a 54 per cent increase in pedestrian injuries in accidents involving quiet cars between 2012 and 2013.

The charity – which says that guide dog owners and their animals are particularly at risk from vehicles that they cannot hear coming – called for laws to make noise generating systems compulsory on all hybrids.

Guide Dogs manager James White said: ‘Quiet vehicles put pedestrians at risk outside schools, in residential areas and in our towns and cities.

‘The Government is spending hundreds of millions of pounds to increase the numbers of quiet cars on the roads, and while we support the development of environmentally friendly vehicles, more needs to be done to protect pedestrian safety.’

Car builders and independent companies have been working on a range of artificial sound generators that would lessen the risk of accidents.

Most involve speakers fixed to the car, which work in the direction the car is moving to reduce nuisance to people who are not in the way.

Sounds promoted vary from a reproduction of the whine of an old electric motor through computerised squawks to a rumble reminiscent of a diesel or petrol combustion engine.

EU rules say such generators must be fitted to new electric and hybrid models from 2019 and retrofitted to existing quiet cars by 2021, but Guide Dogs said that before then there will be thousands more potentially dangerous green cars on the road.

According to the latest Department for Transport stats, 45,400 pure electric cars were being used on UK roads at the end of 2017.

Some 15,474 battery electric cars were registered in the UK last year, a year-on-year increase of 14 per cent.

Sales are expected to grow significantly with manufacturers developing new models in time the petrol and diesel new car sales to be banned in the UK from 2040.

And this one doesn’t make a racket! Murray’s £90k Jag

He has owned a number of gas-guzzling cars including a Ferrari and Range Rover.

But this week Andy Murray was behind the wheel of a more eco-friendly motor as he travelled to and from training sessions for Wimbledon.

The tennis star, 32, – who is back at the All England Club after hip surgery – was spotted driving his fully electric, black Jaguar I-Pace which costs £90,000.

He has described the car as an ‘extremely smooth’ drive, adding: ‘Wrongly I assumed I wouldn’t be able to go very far with it, but you can go 270 miles.’

Murray, pictured inset at the weekend, is competing in the men’s doubles, which start on Wednesday.

Though he’s more known for owning gas-guzzling Ferraris and Range Rovers, this week Andy Murray was behind the wheel of a more eco-friendly motor as he travelled to and from training sessions for Wimbledon

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