Keeping the roar alive: Ferrari working on artificial engine noise for EVs

Though high performance car brands have started out on the electric path, they are well aware that customers still prefer to keep the engine roar alive. Companies like Ferrari and Stellantis are betting that despite wanting to go green, customers would still want their EVs to keep making noise. Thus, both the companies are working on fine-tuning artificial noise for battery-powered vehicles.

Ferrari is working on a system to create distinctive noises tied to the actual performance of an EV powertrain, which enables drivers to feel as well as hear realistic vehicle feedback.

The supercar maker has also filed for a patent for its device, which could go into its first full-electric model coming in 2025. The company's CEO Benedetto Vigna is of the opinion that this sound will be essential to any Ferrari, including those powered by battery. “I have no doubt that our electric powertrains will give clients the same thrills" as combustion engines, he said in an interview.

When Stellantis unveiled its Dodge Charger Daytona SRT Concept in August, the muscle-car brand debuted an industry-first exhaust system for EVs, Car and Driver reported, adding that Dodge has designed a system to amplify the near-silent hum of electric motors into “a 126-decibel cacophony worthy of the SRT badge."

Usually electric vehicles can barely be heard when going slowly, due to which regulators in Europe, the US and China have been requiring that they come with a built-in sound system that alerts bicyclists and pedestrians. Thus, automakers have a some room to maneuver with different sounds when EVs go faster and emit more tire and wind noise.

Some automakers are trying to get creative around this, for example, Jaguar tapped electronic musician Richard Devine to design sounds for its first full EV, the i-Pace. Volkswagen hired Leslie Mandoki, a German-Hungarian music producer, to create sound for its ID. 3 electric vehicle.