Interior EV sounds in your future?

Perhaps like a 1963 E-type Jaguar?

In our web wanderings, we discovered that a British sound engineer is producing artificial sounds for electric vehicles (EVs). The difference between these sounds and the current exterior vehicle sound for pedestrians, is that these sounds are designed for interior reproduction.

One thing that we appreciate about the LEAF is how quiet it is. While not silent (there is a low volume electric motor hum), it is dramatically quieter than internal combustion engine (ICE) or diesel powered vehicles. Harman, the international audio company, maintains involvement in high-end home and commercial audio systems, as well as automotive applications via such brands as harman/kardon, Infinity, JBL and Mark Levinson, among others. Research performed by Harman has shown that respondents would like their electric car to sound like their conventional car, including upshift and downshift noises. Interesting. We wonder how many of these respondents have actually driven an electric car. Our guess would be almost none.

This kind of research confirms that these types of studies should be undertaken carefully. Harman questioned 600 drivers on their views regarding interior sound of an EV, and received the information outlined above. Our speculation would be that had they questioned 600 current EV drivers the responses would have been dramatically different. Then again, perhaps some might like their EV to sound like a classic Jag.