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Electric cars must get noisier, ICE cars must get quieter

Electric cars will have to make a noise to protect pedestrians It’s four years since the Lotus solution for making electric cars noisy raised its head, since when the US has had a go at the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act in 2010 to do the same thing, the Japanese are playing too, and Toyota revealed the Prius Vehicle Notification System, and now the EU has decided its time to act to make EVs emit ‘noise’. Despite the most appealing part of an EV being that it makes our cities quieter, legislators worry about the blind, partially sighted and distracted pedestrian (think earphones and a Smartphone) being mowed down by a stalking electric car and feel the need to act. So the European Parliament has decided that by 2019 new models of electric vehicle will have to make a noise in cities, and that by 2021 all new hybrids and electrics must be noisy too.

Panasonic invests $30 million in Tesla Motors to develop batteries

Japanese electronics giant Panasonic Corp. said late Wednesday it invested $30 million in Tesla Motors Inc. to cooperate on green powertrain development.

Fatal crashes halved in past decade

The number of fatal accidents has almost halved over the last decade, data from the Department for Transport reveals. In 2001 there were 3,176 fatal crashes, compared to 1,637 in 2012. On Bing: see pictures of car safety features Find out how much a used car with Electronic Stability Control costs on Auto Trader And, it’s not just fatal crashes that have seen a drop.