Blog of RENAULT NISSAN Alliance

Everyone knows that by driving an electric vehicle you are helping reduce air pollution in our cities and towns.

But there’s another benefit that’s occasionally overlooked – you are also making a massive contribution to reducing noise pollution. 

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) at least 13.5 per cent of all Europeans are exposed to road traffic noise at levels exceeding 55 dB… and that’s detrimental to our health.

EVs are naturally near silent in operation, which is why Renault and Nissan add an artificial and gentle ‘hum’ to the cars when they are being driven at lower speeds as a warning to pedestrians.

But to prove how quiet they really are, Renault recently drove a Twizy around a place where you can usually hear a pin drop.

The company filmed a video of the funky two-seater being driven around a Portuguese University library to introduce the zero-emission, zero-noise quadricycle – some versions of which can be driven without a licence – to students.

As the company said: “If you’ve never heard of the Renault Twizy, that’s because it’s silent.”

Not to be outdone, Nissan chose to mark the 19th Annual Noise Awareness Day in April by driving a LEAF through one of France’s quietest villages, on the Cote d’Azur. At night. In fact they closed the roads in the village and staged a mini race with four Nissan LEAF cars gunning for honours.

The aim? Not to wake anyone up… and cameras were set up to monitor local residents, all of whom slept like babies. Even the local hens were undisturbed.

Jean-Pierre Diernaz, director of electric vehicles, Nissan Europe said: "One thing that surprises people most about the Nissan LEAF is the feeling of near silence, it is incredibly liberating and makes for a very relaxing driving experience.”

An EV’s silence is clearly something to, er, shout about.

Picture credit: Electric Cars Report