What Does a Chevy Volt Sound Like?

[Matt Herring]

About 3 months ago I read an online newspaper article that was critical of EV's regarding them making no noise and being a danger to other motorists, pedestrians, etc. Today, I received an article from my Chevy Volt newsletter addressing the "noise" a Volt will make while operating. If Chevy is at the point in production that they can tinker with the "sound" the car makes I hope this is good news that the bulk of pre-production is near-completion and they are still on track for release in 2010.

Interesting further down in the article that Frank Weber (a GM rep) even addresses the sound a Volt will make in relation to alerting "blind" people that may walk near its path. He calls it a "pedestrian friendly alert." On a side note, for a company that just asked the government today to kick in 10 billion to help with the Chrysler merger I hope they aren't wasting any of it into the "sound" a Volt makes!

One of the highlights of reading these articles in scrolling down to read the user comments after the article. Some of them make great points...others are just plain funny!

Here's the link...

GM-VOLT : Chevy Volt Electric Car Site » Blog Archive » The Sound of the Chevy Volt

[meanjoe75fan]

Hey, just drag a baseball card across the spokes (rim) to make it loud...just like when we was young.

As for the "pedestrian-freindly alert," how about having the car do a Curly Stooge "WHOOP-whoopwhoopwhoop!"

[shovel]

Maybe they could put some sort of a metal block into the car, with reciprocating pistons that are plumbed through a series of valves to pull in oxygen rich air and a combustible fluid of some sort (like gasoline or something) and detonate it under pressure with some type of sparking apparatus, and then use the same piston's reciprocating motion to push the spent gases out of a tube of some sort to make noise. Maybe if they did it right they could use some of the detonation's energy to turn a crank connected to the piston, and the crank could help push the car along through a gear reduction box.

[Cd]

So where is the link to the sound clip at ?
( I'm probably looking right at it. )

I can hear the high pitch noise of a Prius coming at me in eletric mode from several feet away.
Maybe they should just amplify that.

Or replace it with the sound of a supercharged 426 hemi.

[MadisonMPG]

Originally Posted by shovel

Maybe they could put some sort of a metal block into the car, with reciprocating pistons that are plumbed through a series of valves to pull in oxygen rich air and a combustible fluid of some sort (like gasoline or something) and detonate it under pressure with some type of sparking apparatus, and then use the same piston's reciprocating motion to push the spent gases out of a tube of some sort to make noise. Maybe if they did it right they could use some of the detonation's energy to turn a crank connected to the piston, and the crank could help push the car along through a gear reduction box.

Just maybe...

[Matt Herring]

Odd this thread had no posts for almost a year and now it's hot when the Volt might never be produced!

[gone-ot]

...at the current rate of events, I believe it's making a g-r-e-a-t BIG SUCKING sound!

[Christ]

So we're all aware that most of the sound you hear from cars has little to do with the car itself, more a function of wind and friction noises... right?

Glad GM can "tune" those sounds.

[Matt Herring]

Incredible how much money is poured into R&D...I can see it now...

GM has a hot new car on the horizon...so hot they think they can waste money on what the car sounds like when in motion. Insert lightning bolt sound....

Surprise...just get the car on the road already and at a price I can afford!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was a Chevy guy for years and years...purchased my first non-Chevy in 2008 and now I'm a Toyota guy for my last two vehicles...go figure. I'll take one for the team and buy US...and I did it for 12 years...but I won't dump my wallet forever.

[Christ]

Meh, I'll buy a used Volt. If they don't all get crushed.

I don't think I'll ever buy a new car.