No Relief from Urban Noise
Vehicles of the future will make cities noisy no matter how they are powered. Lauded for their silence while idling, electric cars may not offer much noise-reduction value while in use, according to researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO).
A “Virtual Cityscape” project using 3-D urban mapping reveals that both gas-driven and electric motor vehicles produce rolling noises starting at speeds of 30 kilometers per hour (18.6 miles per hour), and get louder at higher speeds.
“We have yet to see any significant difference in the noise level in electric vehicles or gas-driven cars,” says IAO department head Roland Blach.
To reduce noise in cities, the researchers recommend that planners analyze the logistical flows of both pedestrian and vehicular traffic and alter urban designs accordingly.
Source: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, www.fraunhofer.de.
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