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This is a common misconception about roadway noise pollution. Electric Vehicles will still generate a fair amount of road noise pollution. There will be import

This is a common misconception about roadway noise pollution. Electric Vehicles will still generate a fair amount of road noise pollution. There will be important improvements for city quality of life, mostly in reductions in the sub 35kmh acceleration/deceleration moments. But for highway speeds the reductions will not be that big. Check this interesting wikipedia article for reference. Linking to the part that lists the basic variables that affect Roadway Noise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadway_noise#Description_of_basic_variables https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadway_noise#Description_of_b...

mikeash 11y ago
I don't think it's entirely a misconception. Yes, some people mistakenly think that an all-EV world will be totally silent, and it won't, but the noise reduction is still huge. In most situations, the average is much less important than the maximum, so the fact that typical noise from modern cars is mostly tires and air is irrelevant. Trucks, motorcycles, and performance cars are what make up the bulk of the annoying noise, and EV versions of those would help a lot.
- glaberficken 11y ago
  True, it would help a lot in city centers where tipically cars have to accelerate from a stop at lights, but not on highway style roads.
  - mikeash 11y ago
    Even there, the constant drone of tires is far more tolerable than the occasional blatttt of sports bikes or the rumble of a tractor trailer.
sokoloff 11y ago
My house fronts on a 4 lane parkway. As soon as I wake up, I can tell whether or not the road out front is wet from the increased tire noise. (And indeed, we have a wooden fence of maximum legal height, set on top of some earthworks, and double-pane windows to cut the noise down to acceptable levels and I can still readily tell the difference.) The objectionable [to me] noise is mostly from tires. Every so often, we get someone on a sport bike or sports car ripping along the parkway having some fun. That's very intermittent and far more often brings a smile to my face as I'm reminded that we can still do that...

mikeash 11y ago

I don't think it's entirely a misconception. Yes, some people mistakenly think that an all-EV world will be totally silent, and it won't, but the noise reduction is still huge. In most situations, the average is much less important than the maximum, so the fact that typical noise from modern cars is mostly tires and air is irrelevant. Trucks, motorcycles, and performance cars are what make up the bulk of the annoying noise, and EV versions of those would help a lot.

glaberficken 11y ago
True, it would help a lot in city centers where tipically cars have to accelerate from a stop at lights, but not on highway style roads.
- mikeash 11y ago
  Even there, the constant drone of tires is far more tolerable than the occasional blatttt of sports bikes or the rumble of a tractor trailer.

sokoloff 11y ago

My house fronts on a 4 lane parkway. As soon as I wake up, I can tell whether or not the road out front is wet from the increased tire noise. (And indeed, we have a wooden fence of maximum legal height, set on top of some earthworks, and double-pane windows to cut the noise down to acceptable levels and I can still readily tell the difference.) The objectionable [to me] noise is mostly from tires. Every so often, we get someone on a sport bike or sports car ripping along the parkway having some fun. That's very intermittent and far more often brings a smile to my face as I'm reminded that we can still do that...