Minimum sound requirements for electric vehicles

Canada published Regulations Amending Certain Regulations Made under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act (Minimum Sound Requirements for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles).

The proposed safety standard includes requirements to testable acoustic parameters when the vehicle is about to move or is moving at low speeds. These requirements would ensure that blind, visually impaired, and other pedestrians and pedal cyclists are able to detect and recognize nearby hybrid and electric vehicles.

These specifications should allow the pedestrian to recognize that there is a vehicle present, where that vehicle is, and in what state it is operating, more precisely, if the vehicle is accelerating or decelerating, going forward or reversing. It is important to note that HEVs currently on the road in Canada voluntarily conform to either the U.S. or UN requirements. The goal would be to incorporate the two sets of requirements into a Canadian standard, allowing manufacturers to choose which requirement to adopt (i.e. either the U.S. or UN requirement), thereby codifying an already existing practice.

Details of the draft regulations can be found under the following link.