And I'm saying you're wrong. Tire noise is a factor and some countries address it by changing the composition of asphalt to mitigate noise. The worst of it are freeways at a distance. But in Europe and Asia where large numbers of small cylinder motorbikes (mopeds) are used and many modify their exhaust to gain power and speed, the noise can be quite overwhelming. This will be entirely eliminated once all mopeds are required to be EVs, and up the engine size chain...
Just look up the Godfather funeral scene on Youtube. That was filmed in Queens, right next to the BQE, and all you hear in the background is tire noise, not engine noise. Especially in the beginning with the tractor-trailer tire making that "whirring" sound.
My parents live on a hill with a major freeway about 5 miles away below. When the wind blows their way they have to close their windows because of the loud hum of the car tires zooming in the freeway. But the worst is living in a city with lots of motorbikes bouncing their exhaust noise against building façades... Excruciating.
Yes, that is exactly what I am saying! First you disagree with me and say it is not tire noise but engines, then agree that is it not engines but tire noise? You are very confusing. I too live next to a major highway. It is about 1/2 mile as crow flies, but elevated a tad from the house. On certain days, when the wind wafts in from the west, it carries all that tire noise right to us. Quite annoying. We do not hear normal ICE engine sounds and EV's obviously, but we DO hear the tires. And the tractor-trailer rigs doing their "jake brake" thing.
Lol... Re ready my posts. I always say that tires are but one of other contributors of noise. Exhaust from motorcycles and sports cars or modified vehicles is far worse in urban environments.
Yes, I will grant you that. Rice burners and sports cars and the others with modified exhausts do contribute to noise pollution, especially in the only urban center I have lived in, NYC. But even after going to all EV, I know we are still going to have terrible noise from the damned tires. This is why we need to finally figure out the flying car!
Scratched EV battery? Your insurer may have to junk the whole car For many EVs, even slightly damaged battery packs cannot be repaired, leading to higher premiums and undercutting gains from going electric. Bloomberg LONDON/DETROIT -- For many electric vehicles, there is no way to repair or assess even slightly damaged battery packs after accidents, forcing insurance companies to write off cars with few miles -- leading to higher premiums and undercutting gains from going electric. And now those battery packs are piling up in scrapyards in some countries, a previously unreported and expensive gap in what was supposed to be a "circular economy." "We are buying electric cars for sustainability reasons," said Matthew Avery, research director at automotive risk intelligence company Thatcham Research. "But an EV isn't very sustainable if you've got to throw the battery away after a minor collision." Battery packs can cost tens of thousands of dollars and represent up to 50 percent of an EV's price tag, often making it uneconomical to replace them. While some automakers like archiveFord and GM said they have made battery packs easier to repair, Tesla has taken the opposite tack with its Model Y, whose new structural battery pack has been described by experts as having "zero repairability." Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. A Reuters search of EV salvage sales in the U.S. and Europe shows a large portion of low-mileage Teslas, but also models from Nissan, Hyundai Motor, Stellantis, BMW, Renault and others. EVs constitute only a fraction of vehicles on the road, making industry-wide data hard to come by, but the trend of low-mileage zero-emission cars being written off with minor damage is growing. Tesla's decision to make battery packs "structural" -- part of the car's unibody -- has allowed it to cut production costs but risks pushing those costs back to consumers and insurers. Tesla has not referred to any problems with insurers writing off its vehicles. But in January CEO Elon Musk said premiums from third-party insurance companies "in some cases were unreasonably high." Unless Tesla and other automakers produce more easily repairable battery packs and provide third-party access to battery cell data, already-high insurance premiums will keep rising as EV sales grow and more low-mileage cars get scrapped after collisions, insurers and industry experts said. "The number of cases is going to increase, so the handling of batteries is a crucial point," said Christoph Lauterwasser, managing director of the Allianz Center for Technology, a research institute owned by the insurer Allianz. Lauterwasser noted EV battery production emits far more CO2 than fossil-fuel models, meaning EVs must be driven for thousands of miles before they offset those extra emissions. "If you throw away the vehicle at an early stage, you've lost pretty much all advantage in terms of CO2 emissions," he said. Most automakers said their battery packs are repairable, though few seem willing to share access to battery data. Insurers, leasing companies and car repair shops are already fighting with automakers in the EU over access to lucrative connected-car data. Lauterwasser said access to EV battery data is part of that fight. Allianz has seen scratched battery packs where the cells inside are likely undamaged, but without diagnostic data it has to write off those vehicles. Ford and GM tout their newer, more repairable packs. But the new, large 4680 cells in the Model Y are glued into a pack that forms part of the car's structure and cannot be easily removed or replaced, experts said. In January, Musk said the automaker has been making design and software changes to its vehicles to lower repair costs and insurance premiums. The company also offers its own insurance product in a dozen U.S. states to Tesla owners at lower rates. Insurers and industry experts also note that EVs, because they are loaded with all the latest safety features, so far have had fewer accidents than traditional cars.