Electric cars must make warning noise

ELECTRIC cars will need to be sold with built-in warning noises to warn pedestrians from next year.

And owners of older electric vehicles will need to install devices to make noise by 2021.

European regulations mean that, from July 2019, new vehicles that are travelling at less than 20mph will have to emit an audible tone.

However, it is likely to be ‘white noise’, rather than the loud warning tones emitted by large vehicles as they reverse.

For cars travelling above that speed, the sound of tyres on the road is supposed to give pedestrians enough warning.

Those particularly at risk are blind people and cyclists with headphones, who are up to 40 per cent more likely to be hit by electric cars than conventional vehicles.

‘The greatest risks associated with electric vehicles are when they are travelling at low speeds, such as in urban areas with lower limits, as the noise from tyres and the road surface, and aerodynamic noise, are minimal at those speeds,’ Kevin Clinton, from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, told The Observer.

Chris Hanson-Abbott, a distributor of vehicle safety products, said: ‘The object is to have warnings which are audible but not the least bit environmentally disturbing.’ He suggested the noises would be a mix of white noise and sound effects. ‘White sound is very pleasant. It’s the sound of falling water,’ he added.

It is not known whether UK vehicles will need to meet the same standards after Brexit. There are predicted to be up to 9million electric cars on British roads by 2030.