Ed was so gracious to allow me to test-drive his Leaf, must have been more than 2 years ago, and the impression that I came away with is that it pretty much drives very similar to my Prius, even including the slight motor whine which I find interesting but not a problem at all, an ICE makes more sound than that motor whine and this is a way of the car telling me that it is working for me - an ICE revs up and shakes; an electric produces a slight whine. Initially when driving my Prius around and hearing that whine, I had to check my mirrors to see whether this was a police siren as the pitch and the change of the sound can occasionally sound similar to that, but now I recognise the faint sound and welcome it as part of the sounds that my Hybrid makes, especially when delivering its instant torque or regen braking and I suspect that are also the moments that the Leaf sound will be most noticeable. Having driven a Hybrid (Prius) and EV for most of my daily driving in the past 12 years, I am always surprised how much more noise a regular ICE vehicle makes and how I in my EV am sitting in total quiet and even hear the motor of Hybrids around me turn off while waiting at the light while people in their noisy ICE need to turn the volume of music or hands free phone conversation way up to hear their partners, while I can have a conversation at normal low volume in my car. That is probably also why the Leaf seems noisy, because it does not have a noise maker to cover the road noise.
Besides that it can contribute as to what tires you are running, I have had different experiences with different tires on the same car. Most manufacturers spec a too low tire pressure so that you get a soft and quiet ride, but pump the tires to the pressure that they have a long life (you can easily have a difference of 2 times in tire life, between recommended and optimal pressure!) and the ride becomes harsher and noisier. Besides that, some tires are noisier by design (not deliberate, but they are). I have just installed new tires on my Prius and am still surprised how much quieter this tire is compared to the old ones. Regards, Cor van de Water Chief Scientist Proxim Wireless office +1 408 383 7626 Skype: cor_van_de_water XoIP +31 87 784 1130 private: cvandewater.info http://www.proxim.com This email message (including any attachments) contains confidential and proprietary information of Proxim Wireless Corporation. If you received this message in error, please delete it and notify the sender. Any unauthorized use, disclosure, distribution, or copying of any part of this message is prohibited. -----Original Message----- From: EV [mailto:ev-boun...@lists.evdl.org] On Behalf Of Jamie K via EV Sent: Friday, November 13, 2015 9:09 AM To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List Subject: Re: [EVDL] 2016 30kWh Leaf : Best year to buy ... On 11/13/15 9:04 AM, Cruisin via EV wrote: > Regardless where you buy a Leaf at, take note of the high pitch wine sound > from the motor. VERY aggravating to most people. I can't speak for most people but I doubt that's true. Our 2013 a typical understated EV "jet-like" sound. Some may find it annoying, some may find it thrilling, some may not really notice it. It does have an added whistle added at low speeds to alert pedestrians outside the car (switchable on 2011/12 models), which is not particularly noticeable inside the car. Sadly, there is no option to select a "Jetsons" spaceship sound for the pedestrian warning. :^) > Also, excessive road noise > due to lack of insulation. The road noise level doesn't seem excessive compared to similar hatchbacks. Overall the LEAF is a fairly quiet car, nicer for music listening than our gasmobile. > My suggestion, is take a look at the Ford Focus > which makes no noise. It only has a 23kwh battery like the 2015 Leaf, but is > more efficient in energy use. The Focus is a nice looking car. Perhaps it's quieter, I don't know I haven't had the chance to ride in one. I think the Ford was the first EV to support 6.6kW charging which may have influenced Nissan to add that feature. We considered the Focus EV. Where the Ford EV falls short is: lack of trunk space (due to their battery configuration as a converted Focus rather than built-for-EV design); and lack of faster level 3 charging. Perhaps since it was a project driven more by a supplier rather than Ford itself it seems stuck in time without much improvement since it was introduced. What are Ford's EV plans going forward? Will Ford step up with a purpose-built EV with more interior space, increased range and faster charging to keep up with the competition or will they let Nissan, Kia and others continue to eat their lunch? Cheers, -Jamie www.JamieKrutz.com > -- > View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/2016-30kWh- Leaf-Best-year-to-buy-tp4678642p4678653.html > Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ > Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
