Does anyone else hear a high frequency sound at low speeds, like a motor whining? This sound is at speeds, less than 45 mph. It happens at acceleration and deceleration and seems louder on cold mornings but it's always there. I've had this since purchasing the car. The mobile tech said he couldn't hear it or maybe it is the pedestrian warning. It seems to be getting louder now that the car is about 15 months old.
High frequency Sound
- Thread starter JoeL
- Start date
It's not the pedestrian warning, that can barely be heard inside the car. It is the motors making motor sounds. The frequency gets too high to hear at highway speeds. Some other EVs have a lot of soundproofing around their motors to mask that sound, Lucid does not. Many here enjoy the sound, or are at least used to it. It shouldn't be getting louder, but that's a really hard one to judge objectively with your ears over 15 months. You can get an SPL meter (sound level meter) as a smartphone app to compare objectively between your car and a new car if you'd like.
ColonelBadger
Active Member
I believe it was a design decision by Lucid to maintain the motor whine vs masking it. I like it.
This has been discussed here many times. It's not the pedestrian warning. You can hear that if you open your windows. It's the motor. And Lucid has decided it likes that sound.
Some here love it. Some hate it. Some are ambivalent to it. But there's nothing wrong with your car. (Or your ears.)
Coming from a 2023 Tesla Model Y Performance - Hated the motor whining so much during the first test drive in February, that I went ahead and ordered a Model S LR. April incentives and offers pulled me back into Lucid world last month. 1 month of ownership this past weekend and the Motor sound is absolutely music to my ears and soul every time I drive this amazing car.
About 10 days into Air Pure RWD ownership and yesterday was the first day I noticed the low speed pedestrian tone. When we first got the car, we checked for the tone in a quiet parking garage and heard nothing. Now driving with the windows down its very clearly heard. I wonder why it wasn't there before? A Honda Civic (for example) is considerably less conspicuous than the fake BEV's tones, I wish it could be turned off.
It's the law. All EVs need to make the "fake" noise at low speeds. No chance Lucid ever lets you turn that off.
You are probably hearing the motor whine. I thought it was pedestrian warning but realized it's the motor.
Yep, this. The pedestrian sound comes on as soon as you put the car in "gear" even while stopped. I can barely hear it from inside without rolling down a window. It turns off above some relatively low speed (20? 25? don't recall). If you're mostly hearing this noise when you're accelerating/decelerating and it sounds more jet-like that UFO-like, that's the actual mechanical noise of the motor.
This is definitely the pedestrian tone, its artificial. I guess I was more curious why it just started yesterday, but I'm fully aware of why its there and where its coming from. Then I was just thinking out loud about how silly it is. My neighbor has a Toyota Hybrid that I can hear the fake tone a block away. Tire and wind noise is what you hear at neighborhood speeds on an ICE car. In a parking lot, I think you should rely primarily on the sense of sight, but I guess I'm exposing too much of my libertarian views here.
It's for the blind not for people who can see the cars...
