Japan looking to make hybrid vehicles noisy
Posted on 03. Jul, 2009 by admin in CES, Japan, Lotus, Object, Toyota
Although the relative silence of hybrid vehicles has made them the choice of TV gangsters for drive-by shootings, the rest of the world is less than enamored with the difficulty involved in hearing one coming - especially when trying to cross the street. This phenomenon has inspired companies like Lotus to engineer a system that re-creates the sound of a normal car, and now the issue of whether such devices should become mandatory for hybrid vehicles is being discussed in Japan.
The problem lies in the design of the electric motors found in hybrid vehicles as they run almost silently when the car is driving on electric power alone.
