Home - Piston.my

Manufacturers must make their electric cars noisy

As the era of the electric car dawns and more such cars will be on the roads, safety issues are beginning to get increasing attention. The fact that cars with only electric motors run almost silently may be good for the environment but can be a danger to pedestrians. It’s already bad enough that there are pedestrians who are walk around with earphones blocking out ambient noises that they do not realise a car is approaching them. With electric cars, even pedestrians who can hear may not know a car is coming up behind them.

For the past few years, safety authorities in some countries have begun to introduce new regulations that require electric vehicles to ‘make noise’ as a safety measure. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), for example, added such a requirement for all new hybrid and electric light-duty vehicles sold in the USA. The new federal safety standard is intended to help pedestrians who are blind, have low vision, and other pedestrians detect the presence, direction and location of these vehicles when they are traveling at low speeds.

*Special acoustic chambers are used to conduct tests on noise generated by vehicles.*

Under the new rule, to come into effect in September this year, all hybrid and electric light vehicles with 4 wheels and a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds (4,545 kgs) or less will be required to make audible noise when traveling in reverse or forward at speeds up to 30 km/h. At higher speeds, the sound alert is not required because other factors, such as tyre and wind noise, provide adequate audible warning to pedestrians.

New EU directive to make noise
Since the beginning of July 2019, a new EU directive has made it mandatory to install a warning sound generator in electric cars in Europe. This stipulates that initially in newly certificated hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles – also trucks and buses – an Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) must be installed for the protection of other road users.

The warning is mandatory up to a speed of 20 km/h and the Directive formulates the parameters for how an AVAS warning may and may not sound in great detail. This applies for example to the minimum and maximum sound volume, and to certain sound components.

How manufacturers are meeting the requirement
It is subject to these and many other regulations that the sound experts of the acoustic test facility at the Mercedes-Benz Technology Centre in Germany are working on giving a ‘voice’ to the electrified Mercedes-Benz models. Special microphones in the exterior sound testing facilities are used to develop an individually configured e-sound for each electric model.

Simulations, measurements, evaluations and detailed improvements continue until the result is perfect. 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.

The Mercedes-Benz AVAS sound differs only slightly for the EU, Japan and China. There are other requirements for the USA, for example concerning the sound volume. Furthermore, the stationary vehicle must already generate a sound when a gear is engaged, becoming louder up to 30 km/h. Switching off the AVAS by the customer is prohibited in almost all countries.

https://www.facebook.com/piston.my/

Four electric vehicles myths debunked by Nissan

Sales of the fully electric vehicles around the world has exponentially increased 23-fold in the past five years and many folks nowadays are seriously considering about getting an EV of their own as their next of even first car. For those who have been misinformed about the ownership of owning EV, Nissan and ETCM (Edaran Tan Chong Motor) are here to help clarify a few things. (more…)

HardKhor Motorsports Feature: Porsche Carrera Cup Asia (PCCA) 200th race

HardKhor Motorsports, our contributor, explains how two events – at Sepang and at Le Mans – are related and why this is important to him personally and to many Malaysians in motorsports.

Let me take you back over 30 years to 1986 in Germany where Porsche launched its Carrera Race Series for the Type 951 which was the 944 Turbo. By 1989, the 944 model was at the end of its model life and Porsche decided to go with the Type 964 Carrera 2.

The 911-based racing car debuted in 1990… and thus began the most successful and longest running one make/model racing series ever… adding very much to Porsche’s stunning 60 years of racing and more than 30,000 victories the world over!!

France introduced the Porsche Carrera Cup in 1987, Japan in 2001, and in 2003, the UK, Australia and Asia joined in. Today, there are 25 countries and regions running their own Carrera Cup Series.

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia begins in 2003….
Porsche Malaysia started out in 2000 as AutoEurokars and owned by Tan Sri Dato’ Mokhzani Mahathir, with the introduction of type 996, the first water-cooled 911.

The Carrera Cup racing version based on the 996 GT3 road car was introduced in 2003 and AutoEurokars brought EKS Motorsports (based in Sunway, Selangor) in as the technical services team for the PCCA Race Series. This series originally was based on the Arrive & Drive concept as logistics & technical/team management service were all taken care of by EKS and Porsche Asia Pacific.

AutoEurokar’s Jaseri Racing Team entered a car in the first season of PCCA. I was the team manager and we also prepared the Porsche for the first 12-Hour Merdeka Millennium race. We would enter this iconic endurance event for the next 10 years in various 911 GT3 Cup & RSR versions and we always had a helping hand with technicians seconded from EKS Motorsports.

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia in 2019…
16 years have passed since PCCA began here in Asia and EKS Motorsports is still the technical services support group for the series. Meanwhile, many Malaysian and Malaysian-based drivers have come and gone in the PCCA but one name stands out: Earl Bamber (pictured below).

Bamber lives in Kuala Lumpur and during the 2013-14 season, he raced in the PCCA with Team Nexus Infinity owned by Malaysian Adrian DeSilva and then for the LKM Team run by Malaysia-based Arrows Racing, winning two PCCA titles along the way.

2015 saw Bamber recruited as a Porsche works driver and he went on to win the Le Mans 24-Hours twice (in 2015 and 17) in the LMP1 Porsche 919 Hybrid.

Last Saturday celebrated the PCCA’s 200th race and Adrian DeSilva returned to the series in the Pro-Am class. He was joined just for the weekend by Timothy Yeo.

So you can now understand why Porsche and the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia Series is closely tied to Malaysia, Malaysians and Malaysian teams involved with motorsports.

F1 – Highlights of the 2019 British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton’s victory at Silverstone this year is his sixth British GP win, the most of any driver in the race.
Sebastian Vettel rammed into Max Verstappen’s car on lap 37 but the Ferrari driver acknowledged it was his fault and apologized to Verstappen at the end of the race. He was given a 10-second penalty which dropped his finishing position to 15th, and 2 penalty points on his racing licence.
Despite the dramatic incident, Vettel and Verstappen completed the race with the Red Bull driver collecting 10 points for his 5th placing.
Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen – both driving for the American Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – never had a chance to race this weekend as they collided in the first corner and had to retire as the damage was too severe.
The duel between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen received praise as the two drivers showed gentlemanly behavior even as they challenged each other.
Kimi Raikkonen’s 8th placing at the British GP brings him points for a third consecutive race but not without having to work hard. The car still lacks speed on the straights, he said.
Lewis Hamilton revealed that he ‘went easy’ on Valtteri Bottas because they are team mates, even though they compete hard against each other and Bottas certainly would like to win the championship. “When you’re racing with a team-mate it’s on a different level. If I were racing a Ferrari, you take more risks. Still respectful, but you can lean on them a bit more but as team-mates, we sit down at the beginning of the race, we talk about Turn One and how we’re going to respect each other,” Hamilton said at the post-race press conference.