Entertainment

The silence of the cars

Many New York showgoers will be surprised this year at the record number and variety of electric cars they’ll see on the floor.

There’s the almost-ready-for-production Nissan Leaf, which looks like a real car (see page 54.) And there’s the cobbled-together Chinese jobs that look like golf carts with old telephone booths bolted on. There is, however, no question that some serious capital has been invested in the belief that cities will one day soon teem with electric vehicles.

One of the quieter issues in the world of electric cars is indeed just that — quiet. Other than the whooshing of tires and the faint hum of electric motors whirring, the average electric car makes no noise. So there is growing awareness among safety advocates and regulators that such silence poses a danger.

I discovered as much a few years back when test-driving a prototype Tesla electric sports car in Pebble Beach, when I almost mowed down a couple of old duffers who were obliviously crossing the road to their next hole without looking to see the speeding two-seater bearing down on them.

It took me a second to realize that they were not acting like over-entitled dipsticks who couldn’t bother to turn their heads, but simply couldn’t hear me coming. I braked hard, in time for them to shake their over-privileged but genuinely startled fists at me.

So real is the issue that Congress is exploring a requirement that electric cars emanate artificial noise — a soundtrack, if you will — to alert others to their presence.

With a recent study by the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency reporting that drivers of quiet hybrid cars were more likely to hit and kill pedestrians and cyclists, such a requirement seems a good idea, even if it means that the silence of the electric car — a real virtue — is lost.

What hasn’t been established is exactly what sort of noise the cars should make. One school of thought is exemplified by Porsche, who may build their 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid with a soundtrack in electric mode that apes the sporting wail of the car’s 3.4-liter gasoline V8.

While some makers have argued in favor of silence, Nissan is standing by to split the difference, ready to install chimes or sound projectors that emphasize the futuristic whir of the electric motor.

But must we limit buyers’ personal expression by mandating a certain noise? In a world where many complain of the sameness of automobile designs, perhaps diverse soundtracks — made possible by the magic of the infinitely programmable micro-chip — can restore excitement and individuality to automotive purchases.

Here in New York, there is so much raw sound material to draw upon. Why not a car that sounds like a recently de-institutionalized mental patient, talking to himself? Or Ed Koch, at his most loquacious? Or a garbage truck crushing recyclable glass bottles? A 747 taking off, a dissonant Yo La Tengo guitar solo, or Joy Behar guest-hosting for Larry King? This is New York, the Naked City, where there are eight million stories here and at least as many sounds.

May our consciences be our guide.