Sit back. Close your eyes. And breathe. In and out. In and out. Feel the movement of air filling your lungs. The release of pressure as you exhale. Ahhhhh. Now introduce a bit of sound pressure. A simple chant, vibrations that resonate in your chest cavity. Feels good, doesn’t it?
Now let’s externalise these vibrations. Replace them with mechanically created sounds or musical notes. Let the pattern repeat, vary the tone, alter in pitch. Soon something else happens. The sensory feedback loop begins to work, shifting your brain to a more pleasant state. Humming and music clearly have this effect on us. And so do exhaust vibrations and frequencies.
These could come from a single-cylinder ‘thump,’ a four-cylinder howl, the zing of a straight six, the growl of a V8, the blare of a V10 or the sublime honey-smooth operatic song of a V12. Yes, the sound of a pleasant or appealing exhaust is literally like music to our ears. And it’s not just the tone, it’s also the fact that the engine acoustics mimic the sweep of the rev counter, directly impacting your central nervous system, and spiking your adrenaline. So yes, these sounds clearly add another dimension to the experience.
But why do the sounds of an engine and the pulses made by the exhaust please us so much? How this works is actually quite simple. Your body’s deep tissue vibration receptors sense the physical pressure, the brain processes a soothing, rhythmic sensory input and then responds by down-regulating the sympathetic “fight-or-flight” response. It does this by allowing the vagus nerve to naturally assert its calming influence.
Now step into a performance EV. Acceleration is instant, brutal and neck-snapping. But after the initial shock wears off, you are left with an eerie, clinical void. EVs have plenty of muscle, but they lack soul. This has a lot to do with the silence. The lack of connect with the driver. While a combustion engine feels alive, an electric motor operates with a sterile, frictionless whine. It feels like a couple of the senses have been deleted, removed from the equation. Like watching a dramatic scene in a movie, but without the background score or music. Like hitting a tennis or cricket ball without the pleasing thwack, or when we use our phones and computers without the confirmatory sounds.
So, if performance EVs are to truly hook enthusiasts, they must add in sounds. Not fake, synthesised starship-like noises or sounds of gurgling V8s, but their own genuine, raw acoustic signatures. The right tone, texture, progression and ascendence. Most performance EV makers are already doing this. And with time, these ‘effects’ are sure to improve and get better. More satisfying, more genuine, more real. Full of feel that has to be in sync with the rising performance. Like the background score in that action sequence from your favourite movie. Rising in volume when the performance gets stronger. It’s what performance EVs are missing. A real connect with humans, something that can reach in and touch our soul.