Let’s be honest. Since brands have started using emulated systems for the sound of exhaust inside cars, none have given the high note. They all sound fake and synthetic, like a PlayStation or PC game, but from 20 years ago. Fortunately, this can be solved with a sports exhaust line, which sounds real.
But for electric cars, the lack of sound has nothing to do with sound insulation, but for obvious reasons. At best, a high-performance electric car (from Extreme E, Formula E or Rallycross) will emit a high pitched hum, like that of a mini jet mixed with a vacuum cleaner or hair dryer. And although electric cars are very entertaining due to their instantaneous torque, their high power and even, due to their traction, the sound of the engine is something we have been used to for many years.
We are sentient beings, we like what we can hear, see, smell, touch and taste. We like sports cars not only for what they can do, but for how they look, for how gasoline smells, for the noises of the turbo, valves, exhaust, intake or supercharger, for how the lever trembles changes, by how the chassis shakes, because they are sounds that tell you that there is something mechanical working and, therefore, something that somehow has life and energy.
On the other hand, we like honest things. That’s why we don’t like the emulated sound system, because it sounds fake and because it comes from the speakers and not from where it belongs, which is the engine or the exhaust line. They will not deceive us. But the folks at Borla, who have been in the business of performance exhausts for years, got a mission from Shelby for the Mustang Mach E: make it sound like a Shelby. The result is the Borla Active Performance Sound System.
The installation kit designed by Borla includes a set of external speakers, an amplifier, a digital signal processor that connects via CANbus to the car, a branch of cables and that’s it. Besides, you must download an application to configure the features of this system on the fly. The system is easy to install and does not take up more space than an amplifier could for your car’s audio system, with t
he difference that the speakers go on the outside.
The app allows you to choose, at the moment, three types of sound: a Shelby GT500, a Camaro and a Corvette C8, aided by a special equalizer. The result is probably the best seen to date and even superior to the system that equips the new Dodge Charger Daytona EV Concept.
The brand indicates that they are working on more sounds, and even the generation of tones that have nothing to do with the world of combustion engines, so that electric cars have a sound more consistent with their operation, like any ship or robot in some science fiction movie.
The system should debut towards the end of the year, by which time pricing for the system will be revealed. Would you use it in your electric car? Below we leave you a demonstration video that the brand uploaded during tests carried out in August. It really looks real.