EVs and the sound of silence

LATE at night, when the city is quiet and the roads are empty, you often hear someone opening up a V8 somewhere far away.

If you listen carefully you can tell whether it’s a M3 or a C63 AMG, and in the latter’s case, if you really know your cars, you can even tell if it’s the previous generation naturally aspirated engine or the current bi-turbo model.

Every petrol head and car lover hearing the roar of those massive engines wishes he was in the driver’s seat.

There’s no other sound like it! That brings me to the latest development in the electric car business; the Tesla Roadster scheduled to go on sale in 2020.

Apparently it will do 0-100 in 1.9 seconds and have a top speed of over 400km/h.

It will do that without waking up the dogs two towns away because electricity is silent.

Maybe if you’re standing right next to the road you will be surprised by a sudden whoosh and some wind but that’s it. Nothing more…

No exhaust note sounding like two dragons making baby dragons. Just wind noise!

It’s the future of motoring they say…

Every single car maker is currently having a team of Thomas Edison types in a lab working on an electric zero emissions car, which has a decent range and can be recharged in less than a week, and environmentalist Robert Mugabe is putting a lot of pressure on them to hurry up. But will it be for the better? I have yet to see a comparison between an electric vehicle (EV) vs a petrol powered car, from start to finish as far as impact to the environment goes, and have a slight suspicion someone is cooking the books.

I also look at it from a third world perspective; will a town such as Melmoth for instance, have the necessary electrical infrastructure to keep a thousand EV owners on the road?

Not soon! And that I’m willing to put money on.

Personally, I feel that research into electrical vehicles should be focused on trucks and busses in order to put ‘green’ public transport systems in place, rather than focusing on mobile toasters for the masses.

Until then I will enjoy the thunder of V8s late at night because, whatever happens, it will be a sad day when nights in the city go quiet.