Anyone who has ever seen a Ferrari live knows how much the sound emitted by its engine is an integral part of the experience of driving a car from the historic marque.
The Maranello-based carmaker, which has long since announced its intention to focus on electric cars in the coming years (the first full-electric model is expected to see the light of day in 2025), is well aware of this and has decided that it does not want to give up the iconic roar in its future move into electric mobility.
Ferrari and electric cars of the future: patent filed for iconic roar
Ferrari has recently filed a new patent in the United States: a system in the rear of the vehicle that will enhance the sound generated by its battery-powered transmission. This external speaker will be mounted on the rear axle and its sounds will be correlated to the vehicle’s speed and the driver’s acceleration.
This patent will allow the new cars to create a ‘real propulsion noise’, compared to what many other manufacturers are doing, who have opted for synthesised sounds for their range of electric vehicles.
From the images, the technical details of the device are unclear. It is supposed to be an experimental technology for now, but the aim would seem to be to reproduce the sounds naturally produced by the electric motor at a higher volume.
Ferrari is not the only car manufacturer that has decided to register patents in this area: Dodge and Porsche have done the same, albeit with different techniques behind them. BMW even employed world-renowned composer Hans Zimmer to help create the sounds for some electric vehicles.
Fiat’s sports division, Abarth, recently announced its latest version of its 500e range that will include a speaker that generates a sound of the combustion engine during acceleration.
We would therefore not be surprised to see other brands adopt similar technologies in the future.
Source: https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/driving-tech/ferrari-announce-plans-to-introduce-engine-noise-for-new-era-of-evs/
