Electric cars too quiet? Automakers add real or fake sound to their cabins

Chris Woodyard | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV: Can classic Mustang lovers embrace electric? Ford introduced the all-electric Mustang Mach-E SUV on Sunday. Is this too much change for a storied brand? Car lovers weigh in.

LOS ANGELES — Your next car may come with its own soundtrack.

Faced with the utter silence of electric cars – as opposed to the cacophony of engine noise emanating from conventional vehicles – automakers are coming up with novel ways to give them their own distinctive cabin sounds.

It may sound fanciful, but automakers are taking it seriously. BMW just teamed movie music composer Hans Zimmer with its own sound expert, Renzo Vitale, to create lush electronic chords to accompany the acceleration of BMW Vision M Next, an electric concept car, on display at the Los Angeles Auto Show through Dec. 1.

Domestic automakers have also picked up the beat.

Ford Motor designers knew how to give a new electric SUV the touches that will make it look like a Mustang. But the Mach-E, the latest member of what Ford dubs the "Mustang Family," also needed to sound like one.

So engineers will let drivers of the SUV add the sound of a gentle growl of a powerful engine, not unlike the one in the traditional sporty coupe, to make the already fast vehicle echo the performance of the sporty coupe.

"We spent so much time making the sound feel modern," said Jim Farley, Ford's president of new businesses, technology & strategy, at a splashy unveiling of the vehicle last week. "When people drive this vehicle zero to 60 (mph) in three seconds, they are going to say 'Holy cow!'"

With electric vehicles yet to catch on in a big way with mainstream consumers, automakers feel compelled to make moves like these. Without real or artificial piped-in sound, most electric cars are so quiet that about the only thing to hear at highway speed is the whoosh of wind and drone of tires against pavement.

But the idea isn't new. Rather, it's a new twist.

Six years ago, Honda was using noise-cancellation technology to try to shut out undesired noise in the cabin of its popular Accord midsize cars. When Ford and other automakers were lowering transmission shift points to help save gas during the era when fuel economy was a top buying consideration, sound was piped in to mask the noise of engines that might sound like they were "lugging," or struggling in too low of a gear.

BMW and Porsche both brought sound to cabins of their conventionally powered performance vehicles in the past to enhance their racy feel. But electric cars have presented a different challenge.

For decades, Porsche drivers have reveled in the roar of the 911 sports car gas engine. As many will tell you, it's a big part of the experience of owning one.

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"We know sound has been a part of our cars," Porsche Vice President Stefan Weckbach said.

To make its new Taycan performance electric car – top speed: 155 mph – feel more Porsche-like, the automaker created a system in which the hum of the electric motor, inverters and other components wafts into the cabin over the car's audio system. The "very emotional" sounds are natural, Weckbach insists, but they are tuned in such a way to get a combination of notes that will be most pleasing to the senses.

"It has to be the sound coming from the technology," Weckback said. The goal was to make the sound – and experience – more authentic. But, he acknowledges, "we modify it a little bit."

Drivers have the option of shutting off the sound in order to roll along in silence. As for which mode is most popular, "it's like 50/50," Weckbach said.

BMW is going to even greater lengths. In enlisting Zimmer, the composer known for movie scores ranging from "The Lion King" to "The Dark Knight," BMW says it is developing what it calls "IconicSounds Electric," going beyond just a soundtrack to accompany the throttle.

Vitale and Zimmer just teamed to create a sound for the start button of its hybrid or electric cars based on a recording of a female singer, giving high-tech vehicles a human touch. He said the voice will be heard on electrified versions of the big 7 Series sedan and the 5 Series midsize. And it's coming to the i3 electric car. Vitale explained that it's all about trying to bring out the emotion in the car.

"I don't see the car as a machine," Vitale explained. "I see it as a highly complex art installation."

It's not just sound on the inside of electric cars that matters to automakers nowadays, but on the outside. Electric cars can be so quiet approaching pedestrians and bicyclists that regulations require they have external sound as a warning, creating yet another opportunity for automakers to find just the right tone. Vitale says he is working on that aspect as well.

He's also considering sounds for electric cars in BMW's Mini division. The cars will likely get happier sounds in keeping with their fun, carefree image. And future BMWs might get multiple soundtracks, or blocks of them, not just one.

"Everything's possible," Vitale said.