Should electric cars be made to go 'vroom'?

With whisper-quiet electric cars set to proliferate, the motor industry is under pressure to give them an artificial noise for safety purposes, but should they sound like traditional petrol vehicles?

Electric and hydrogen fuel vehicles are inherently quiet. The sound of the tyres on the road is noisier than the engine and this could prove lethal at slow speeds for pedestrians and cyclists.

Motor manufacturers acknowledge there is a problem. Some, like Nissan, are already fitting speakers under the bonnets of these vehicles to emit sounds for the safety of other road users. Others are planning on doing the same.

With the UK government predicting 8,600 electric cars will be sold by the end of this year, sound engineers say there is a pressing need to come up with some ground rules as to what sounds to pick. So why not just stick with the current sound of a conventional combustion engine?

"That would be losing a huge opportunity," says Prof Paul Jennings from Warwick University who leads a project looking into alternative vehicle noises. "We all know traffic noise can be annoying and the levels are significantly high. We do not want to lose the benefit we could get from using new reduced sounds." He says: "The challenge is to create sounds that are as safe as possible but also ones that are much more pleasing for the urban environment."

As part of the engineering project, an electric vehicle called Elvin (Electric Vehicle with Interactive Noise), is being driven around the university campus demonstrating a small sample of made-up sounds. There are certain noises that people associate with transport and they alert us that a vehicle is heading in our direction.

Whatever car manufacturers choose will only be effective if it does the same. But balancing the needs for safety and improving the environment are not the only requirements. Clearly the manufacturers will have a big say in what happens.

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source: BBC

Mayor of London cuts funds for electric car charging

Boris Johnson, has cut £13m from a scheme to install charging points for electric cars across London.

The mayor had pledged to raise £20m for the £60m scheme which would see 22,500 charging points across London, with 7,500 being installed by 2013. But following the government's Spending Review he has cut his monetary contribution to the project to £7m. The mayor's office said its commitment to make London the electric car capital of Europe was "as strong as ever". Today it was announced that a city-wide electric vehicle charging network, 'Source London', will launch in spring 2011.

Source London will consist of 1,300 public charging points across the capital by 2013. There will be an annual charge of £100 for participants, entitling them to use the public charging points. At present electric vehicle drivers have to register in each London borough to use its charging points.

Further information on Source London can be found here...

source: BVRLA

Sunderland draws up electric car charging points plan

Plans to install 30 charging points for electric vehicles have been drawn up by Sunderland City Council.

There are to be a total of 30 Elektrobay points split between 11 council-run car parks. Locations include the multi-storey car park at the Civic Centre, Houghton, Washington, Roker and Seaburn.

Electric vehicles are plugged into the post, and are allowed up to four hours free parking during re-charging with the free electricity.

Councillor Paul Watson, leader of Sunderland City Council, said: "We're seeing a lot of technological development in the North East for electric vehicles, and Sunderland is at the heart of these developments. "The charging points will help make it easier for electric vehicle owners across all of Sunderland."

In March Japanese car firm Nissan announced that its new electric car - the Leaf - would be built at its Sunderland plant.

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source: BBC