Mercedes EQC Demos New Sound Generators for Europe, U.S. Markets
Mercedes’ ‘Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System’ allows EVs like the EQC SUV to be heard by pedestrians at low speed.
Electric vehicles are becoming a key part of our motoring future. Once Tesla successfully beta-tested the concept of building, marketing, and selling full-electric cars, everyone started getting in to help make everything better, like our beloved Mercedes-Benz with its new EQ family of models.
Of course, one drawback to electrics is how quiet they are. While it might be wonderful to hear everything your old internal-combustion engine covered up during all of those drives on the highway before, the sound of silence can catch pedestrians off-guard, sometimes to their demise at the right speed. According to Electrek, Mercedes has just the thing to remedy the issue.
Per the publication, the United States and the European Union have mandated electric vehicles to make a sound pedestrians can hear at speeds of up to 20 mph and 13 mph, respectively. In the E.U., the sound system is called the Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System, whose sound design is heavily regulated, from how loud it can be, to what exactly it needs to sound like.
“It is subject to these and many other regulations that the sound experts of the acoustic test facility at the Mercedes-Benz Technology Centre (MTC) in Sindelfingen are working on giving a voice to the electrified Mercedes,” Mercedes wrote in the description of the above video, provided to YouTube channel The Wheel Network. “Special microphones in the exterior sound testing facilities are used to develop an individually configured e-sound for each electric model.”
The Euro-market version of the AVAS system on the EQC was compared with the sounds made from the CLA 180, and it’s safe to say everyone will hear it coming down the high street. The USDM version is a smidge quieter compared to both the Euro version and the CLA 200, amplifying the whine of the electric motor so no one can confuse the EQC with anything else on the road. And of course, when it backs out of or into a parking space, it beeps like a Actros delivering the goods to the loading dock.
“Simulations, measurements, evaluations and detailed improvements continue until the result is perfect,” Mercedes wrote. “During the subsequent test drives, there is a particularly sensitive passenger on board – the artificial head. This registers the tiniest noises, and comes impressively close to human hearing.”
Photos: Screenshots
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