I electric vehicles they are really coming. You can already see many of them on the street. On the first RAI channel, BMV, Audi, Peugeot, Hyundai have already started showing commercials that enhance the quality of their electric models, I mean completely electric, not hybrids.
The "Financial Times” reports that Mercedes will cease production of internal combustion vehicles in 2030 and has just closed a partnership with Rivian, the manufacturer of light-duty electric vehicles bought by Amazon.
La China he is moving with known determination. The Hangzhou electric vehicle maker, Leapmotor, will be listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange on September 29 in a tender offer that is the most important value terms of 2022.
La California, the world's largest auto market, has banned the sale of petrol-engined vehicles by law starting in 2035. And we know what California means to cars.
The Golden State pretty much made it up car culture, then exporting it all over the world through rubber missionaries, from the Beach Boys to Dr Dre, from American Graffiti a The Fast and the Furious and in Hollywood as a whole.
But California has also always been a pioneer in environmental policies. In the 60s it introduced regulations limiting exhaust emissions from motor vehicles and subsequently set high standards for fuel efficiency. In 2006 it launched the first comprehensive program of regulation of the greenhouse gases in the United States.
If there is California it means that soon there will be many.
There is a problem
However, there is a considerable problem with this transition that is starting to take shape. What do we do with roar of the engine internal combustion since that of the electric vehicle does not exist?
Begin to distress the future of the roar of Lamborghinis and Ferraris. How is it conceivable not to hear the squeak of the kawasaki, the sobbing thunder of the harley, the chirping of the engine Honda, in short, the daily and reassuring noise that rises from the cars that run in our cities?
Unthinkable indeed! However you turn it around, this problem exists above all for certain models which are not just cars, but experiences, symbols, custodians of collective identities
Ferraris and Lamborghinis
Even brands like Ferrari and Lamborghini will go electric out of necessity, mostly.
Precisely because of the rumble, the two well-known Italian manufacturers are in strong delay on the electric motor. In one way or another, Maranello and Sant'Agata Bolognese let them know, there will always be some 12-cylinder models.
God forbid! The concert of those cylinders it's a classic. Herbert von Karajan is said to have said that the Ferrari 12-cylinder engine produces "a harmony that no maestro could play".
Benedetto Vigna, the new managing director of the horse who comes from the microprocessor industry, is super convinced of it. He told the “Financial Times” without pretense: “An electric Ferrari will be a real Ferrari… Ferrari, it's not just a car, it's an experience”.
Okay… the fact is, however, that the first electric Lamborghinis and Ferraris will only start to roar after the 2025. And they won't be fully electric yet, but hybrids. For the electric tout court it will have to go to 2030.
Will it be a little late? The Model S Plaid by Tesla (from 141 euros upwards) is already capable of accelerating up to 100 km/h in just over 2 (two) seconds, faster than any Ferrari or Lamborghini.
But where is the rumble, one could reproach him! And then the weight: two and a half tons against the 1280 kilos of a Ferrari 488. Not to mention the cost. It is estimated that an ex-12-cylinder all-electric could cost 2 million euro.
Existential threat
Yes, better the Ferrari 488! However, will wealthy eco-sensitive young people want to be seen driving a vehicle that travels less than 5 kilometers on a liter of petrol? Maybe on the track yes, but I think it's difficult in via Manzoni. Soon they won't even be able to circulate there. There's a social stigma problem which will add up to the next coming sense of guilt for luxury.
The "New York Times” captured the moment of the two Italian manufacturers well: «Lamborghini, Ferrari and a handful of other supercar manufacturers – a vaguely defined category of vehicles costing hundreds of thousands of euros with racing car performance – are facing an existential threat».
Very true. Ferrari and Lamborghini are sporting and national symbols, but they are also a cascade of money for shareholders. In 2021 Ferrari sold 11 cars by making a turnover of 4,2 billion euros with a profit of 240 million, while Lamborghini, today of the Volkswagen group, has placed 8300 vehicles with sales of 1,9 billion euros and 183 million profit.
The transition to electric is truly an existential threat for them, but also for Italy as a brand and economy. Half of the total turnover of supercars, that is 12 billion euros, is made by the two Italian brands.
BMW will become a music label
La BMW, as his reputation demands, he's taking things very, very seriously.
To write the score of its electric motor, the house of Monaco has engaged a composer of rank, the Oscar winner Hans Zimmer, author of film music such as Gladiator, The dark Knight and many other hits.
In accepting BMW's proposal to artistically direct its sound team, Zimmer said: «We have the opportunity to return, acoustically, to a pre-industrial type environment, i.e. pre-combustion engine, and starting from there to build something totally new».
The composer is already collaborating with BMW with the precise task of developing a series of dynamic sounds to be loaded at various times during the driving experience: starting the engine, accelerating and at cruising speed. The first BMWs to play the score will be the iX and i4 electric models.
And Zimmer already has some idea of what to play inside the cockpit. For example, for the acceleration phase she intends to be inspired by the Shepard scale present in the soundtrack of Dunkirk (of his own composition) with the intention of creating a certain climax, a somewhat adrenaline-pumping crescendo. There will also be female choral voices when the vehicle is turned on and then accompany a more relaxed guide, called "expressive", with a harmonious blend of acoustic horns and strings.
The sounds in the street
For external sounds the matter is more complex because the "noise" must take account of safety rules concerning pedestrians which will probably be outlined in the highway code.
Different automakers are following different sonic paths. Zimmer believes it makes more sense to come to a coordinated and shared solution for ward off an urban cacophony of dissonant sounds and noises.
Also in this case it could be dynamic sounds modulated on the type of external environment detected by the cameras that the vehicle mounts while running along a route.
Dodge retro
The American brand, now part of the Stellantis group, is going down a completely different road, going forward, looking back.
In fact, it is working to install a technology called "Demon possessedwhich basically plays the noise, the aerodynamic configuration of Dodge combustion vehicles. The transmission will be manual, there will be an exhaust pipe and the engine will roar at over 120 decibels.
A return from the future, anachronistic and nostalgic or a winning idea? It remains to be seen.
What if they were right in Tesla to say “Who cares of the roar in the engine”. In a universal future, interstellar silence is better. Here peace will descend on the cities ... and, slyly, "the sun will shine on human misfortunes".
