Making Noise? The Future of Hybrids

Motorists want their hybrid electric vehicle to not only look different than other cars on the road, they want it to act differently as well, insists Dave Lyon, GM’s executive director of interior design for North America.

“Simply putting a ‘hybrid’ badge on a car doesn’t have much impact on other consumers,” Lyon says, and when paying a premium to conserve fuel, most consumers want those around them to know they’re conserving energy.

In addition to unique and novel styling on its upcoming electrics, like the proposed Chevy Volt plug-in, Lyon said GM is considering a few special features to make folks sit up and take notice.

“One thing we’re debating now is whether an electric should make noise,” he said.

Unlike a gas engine, batteries are whisper-quiet, and the fear is that a pedestrian could walk into the path of an oncoming electric without hearing it coming.

“We’re debating whether we can dial up noise, just like you can by adjusting the ringer level on your cell phone,” he said.

And when backing out of the driveway or parking stall?

For safety’s sake, “If you can program a song for the ringer on your cell phone, why not for your car? You even could program in a dog bark when you back up if you want.”

Also, “Today we pull the shift lever back to go forward and push it forward to go backward. Why not just push a button and go?”

A navigation system will tell you to “turn left at the next light,” but another item under study is whether gauges or audible warnings could warn when you only have so many miles of battery charge left before needing to stop and recharge.

“The car could advise that if you lower your speed by so many miles an hour, or turn the radio off or turn up the temp on the air conditioning or do all of those that you can make the 20 miles needed to get home.”   

That’s what GM is thinking about. What features do you want to see in future hybrids?