Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Another Test Drive Video

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.

stopcrazypp

Well-Known Member
Dec 8, 2007
16,018
13,883
YouTube - Tesla Testdrive

1:30
Bikers can't hear the car coming.

Perhaps there really should be a "quiet horn" installed in EVs, just to prevent requests for some kind of fake engine soundtrack (some people might like it, but I don't like it). As long as the horn is quiet enough so that it doesn't sound offensive (sometimes it seems rude to honk your horn), then you can use it to warn people regularly. Just have another loud horn for emergencies.
 
Oh, bull. Obviously the wife in that video doesn't cycle. It's not the engine noise you hear (that only works with the motorcycles on Skyline), it's the tire noise.

That's the last thing I need while biking up on Skyline - some loon who thinks I can't hear his electric car, so he goes "quiet beeping" all the way along. That would suck. Yes, the car needs a secondary horn for around town and in parking lots. But above 20mph, tire noise is more than sufficient.

I do like the "Is there a speedometer? Oh, honey...".
 
I happened to come across an analogous situation yesterday afternoon when I was riding my Vectrix electric scooter home. I live in a rural setting, and I was on a stretch of road where there were no other vehicles around except me. As I rounded a gentle curve, I saw ahead that there was a group of teenagers walking along the road, headed in my same direction, their backs to me. When I first spotted them, I would estimate the distance between us to be the equivalent of four city blocks. As soon as I saw them, they apparently heard me, because they all looked over their shoulders at me, and then moved off the road.

I've not compared the noise output level of my Vectrix at speed to a Roadster in motion, but I would posit that they are of comparable levels.

I estimate that my speed was ~40 mph.
 
Last edited:
Bicyclists have to do the same head calculations all the time. It makes for a "full focus" activity.

I agree; I've been bicycling myself and find myself fully absorbed with paying attention to the road ahead and trying to sense what is happening behind me.

But, I'm not sure that you caught my main point. I was on a "silent" electric scooter, and yet these young people were able to hear me when I was some distance away from them. Not a scientific experiment certainly, but I would consider it an real-world example of how electric vehicles aren't necessarily "silent killers" sneaking up on unsuspecting pedestrians.
 
Last week I was passed while walking by a Vectrix on Monday, was around Roadsters all Tuesday evening and on Wednesday was passed by one of Tesco's Modec electric trucks.

The Vectrix's motor/drive is way louder at normal town speeds (say 30mph) than the other two, in my experience.

But that is not to say I defend pedestrians who step off the curb without looking.
 
The Vectrix's motor/drive is way louder at normal town speeds (say 30mph) than the other two, in my experience.

I've not had the Vectrix noise level in mind when I've been around Roadsters, but I believe that you're probably correct - the Vectrix is noisy compared to it. My first thought on why that might be is that the Vectrix motor and gearbox is not covered or buried under covers and such that would act to muffle it. The Vectrix gearbox is actually the center part of the rear wheel, and it directly mated to the motor, which is at the end of the swingarm. The gearbox is a ring/planetary gear arrangement, using straight-cut (as opposed to helical-cut) gears. Straight-cut gears are said to be noisier than helical types, but supposedly are more efficient, i.e., have less energy losses that helical.