Obama Signs ‘Bell Bill’ To Make Electric Cars Better Heard

A couple of years from now, it’s likely there will be a lot more electric vehicles and hybrids on the road. And while the typical EV might not be making the sound of a vuvuzela or a Tie-Fighter, you’re going to hear it coming–perhaps with just a little more wow and flutter.

Today President Obama signed the Pedestrian Safety Act (S. 841), which aims to help protect the blind and other pedestrians from “silent vehicle technology,” as it was worded in a press release from the National Federation of the Blind.

Introduced by John Kerry, the bill passed the Senate last April but wasn’t passed until last month.

The
legislation applies to pedestrians, bicyclists, runners, and small
children as well, who might benefit from hearing electric and hybrid
vehicles make more noise on low-speed city streets.

The worry:
That blind or hearing-impaired people might be hit by electric vehicles
because they’re so quiet. The electric motor systems and direct-drive
systems in EVs simply don’t generate much of an audible sound at low
speeds–other than a whine that varies by model from very subtle to
almost

It might still be a while before the particulars of the
bill are determined and EVs are expected to make a particular noise when
they’re traveling at less than 20 mph. The bill calls for a study to be
completed, then a new standard will be issued within 90 days of that.
The new standard will apply to vehicles made or sold beginning two years
after the issuance of the new standard.

Several hybrid vehicles
that have been for sale for many years–like the Toyota Prius, of
course–run in a near-silent EV mode when coasting or cruising at low
speeds. But as we’ve reported, there’s no data set that conclusively
shows an issue with hybrids, more than other types of vehicles, hitting pedestrians. That’s even considering that hybrids are driven more in cities congested with pedestrians.

It’s
a topic that we’ve covered extensively on our green-car sites All Cars
Electric and Green Car Reports. General Motors early on started working
directly with the National Federation of the Blind, while Nissan has come up with several potential solutions and told GreenCarReports that such a sound is only needed up to about 12 mph; above that point tire noise is enough. Nissan presented its solution to NHTSA back in September 2009.

[National Federation of the Blind]

This story originally appeared at The Car Connection