Nissan Still Toying with Leaf Noise

A national tour of Nissan’s new electric vehicle swings through Middle Tennessee this week. The vehicles won’t go on sale until late this year. The prototypes on display will be silent. Engineers of the Leaf are still playing with what kinds of noise the electric vehicle will make.

Nissan engineers initially thought they would add some sort of artificial exhaust sound to the car. The idea was to give drivers an audible response when they press the accelerator instead of just the visual of passing scenery.

But product planning director Mark Perry says as Nissan tours the country with the Leaf prototypes, drivers seem to like the silence.

“We found that consumers actually responded to the lack of noise and how quiet it was and how much nicer your audio system was and the ease of having a conversation in the car. Those were all found benefits, and they didn’t want the excess noise.”

Nissan engineers are still developing a boot-up sound for the Leaf, which goes on the market late this year. Perry says consumers who’ve test driven the vehicle repeatedly push the start button because they can’t tell the vehicle is activated.

“They did not realize because there was no starter sound. There was no generator or alternator sound. Almost like you have with a boot up sound on your computer, we had to come up with a sound to signal the car was actually on and ready for them to drive.”

Nissan has not finalized these “boot up” sounds. Perry says there will be several options for buyers to choose from.

Nissan is working with the National Transportation Safety Board to come up with some kind of audio at low speed to alert pedestrians. Below 12 miles per hour, designers say the tire noise is barely audible.

Nissan will begin taking reservations for the Leaf this spring. Pricing has not yet been announced. The electric vehicles will first be manufactured in Japan and move to Nissan’s plant in Smyrna by 2012.