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At least around me, most noise pollution is just from cars. Electric cars are no better than IC cars at speed. I can hear the highway (3 miles away) at all time

At least around me, most noise pollution is just from cars. Electric cars are no better than IC cars at speed. I can hear the highway (3 miles away) at all times day or night. Perhaps people can not envision a world with less driving so they ignore this problem.

Inthenameofmine 6y ago
At highway speeds aerodynamic drag creates more noise than the motor itself (externally). So an electric car makes little difference there. Reducing speed reduces noise non-linearly. Therefore electric cars make a big difference for noise pollution in slower city streets. Inter-city travel just needs to be reduced, slowed down, and moved to well built electric rail.
- morsch 6y ago
  True for aerodynamic noise, but tire noise starts to dominate at speeds as low as 30 km/h[1]. Obviously it's going to vary depending on the car and the road cover. It certainly seems intuitively true from the quality of the sound at the side of a busy city street. EVs do nothing for that and aren't a panacea regarding roadway noise. I've been snuck upon by an EV in a parking lot a couple of times, but never on the side of the street. It would work if we limit the speed within cities to something like 20 km/h, which is something that, yes, we should be doing immediately. [1] https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/resources/are-electric-cars-quieter-than-petrol-or-diesel-cars/ https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/resources/are-electric-cars-q... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sound... https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reifen-Fahrbahn-Ger%C3%A4usch https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reifen-Fahrbahn-Ger%C3%A4usch
morsch 6y ago
It's cars, yes, and it's also other forms of transportation including railroads and airplanes, it's street cleaning vehicles, leaf blowers, lawn work, garbage collection, inconsiderate people, construction work, etc etc. Not all of these are going to avoidable, but at the moment it's a free externality, there is essentially zero incentive to cut it down and it shows.
loco5niner 6y ago
Not motorcycles? With their ridiculous exhaust? Esp. Harleys at 3am.
- DerekL 6y ago
  Yes. Normally, motorcycles aren't that loud, compared to cars. The owners specifically modify them for that.
  - loco5niner 6y ago
    such selfish behavior

Inthenameofmine 6y ago

At highway speeds aerodynamic drag creates more noise than the motor itself (externally). So an electric car makes little difference there. Reducing speed reduces noise non-linearly. Therefore electric cars make a big difference for noise pollution in slower city streets. Inter-city travel just needs to be reduced, slowed down, and moved to well built electric rail.

morsch 6y ago
True for aerodynamic noise, but tire noise starts to dominate at speeds as low as 30 km/h[1]. Obviously it's going to vary depending on the car and the road cover. It certainly seems intuitively true from the quality of the sound at the side of a busy city street. EVs do nothing for that and aren't a panacea regarding roadway noise. I've been snuck upon by an EV in a parking lot a couple of times, but never on the side of the street. It would work if we limit the speed within cities to something like 20 km/h, which is something that, yes, we should be doing immediately. [1] https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/resources/are-electric-cars-quieter-than-petrol-or-diesel-cars/ https://www.drivingtests.co.nz/resources/are-electric-cars-q... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sounds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle_warning_sound... https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reifen-Fahrbahn-Ger%C3%A4usch https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reifen-Fahrbahn-Ger%C3%A4usch

morsch 6y ago

It's cars, yes, and it's also other forms of transportation including railroads and airplanes, it's street cleaning vehicles, leaf blowers, lawn work, garbage collection, inconsiderate people, construction work, etc etc. Not all of these are going to avoidable, but at the moment it's a free externality, there is essentially zero incentive to cut it down and it shows.

loco5niner 6y ago

Not motorcycles? With their ridiculous exhaust? Esp. Harleys at 3am.

DerekL 6y ago
Yes. Normally, motorcycles aren't that loud, compared to cars. The owners specifically modify them for that.
- loco5niner 6y ago
  such selfish behavior