Stellantis’ Patented Vibration Tech Could Bring ICE Sensations to EVs
When the next chapter of Dodge muscle—the Charger Daytona SRT Concept—debuted in August 2022, there was skepticism about some of the tech tricks that Dodge said it would employ to attempt to preserve the magic of its Hemi-powered forefathers. Would features such as an “eRupt” multi-speed electromechanical transmission or a simulated ICE exhaust note really bridge the gap between old and new?
We’re still a ways away from answering that question, but a patent filed last year by FCA US LLC (read: Stellantis) engineers and recently unearthed by MoparInsiders could draw the two experiences a bit closer. The “Active Sound and Vibration Enhancement Systems” will seek to add another element of the sensation of driving an ICE-powered vehicle to future EVs. At the same time, the tech could possibly advance pedestrian safety.
The system will pair a force generator (vibration motor) with a sensor system that will, according to the patent documents, “mimic the vibrations that would be produced by a predetermined internal combustion engine operating at the sensed operational condition of the vehicle.”
Put in layman’s terms: Sensors will gather operating data from how an EV is driving and then feed that data to a vibration motor that will buzz the chassis in a way that mimics what you’d feel driving a gas-powered vehicle the same way.
At first blush, it feels like this system would fall into the same ‘gimmick’ camp as adding completely fake exhaust noises to an EV. However, if the parameters within the system could be configured, it seems like you’d then have the possibility to select what kind of engine your Charger Daytona EV is imitating, possibly with just the push of a button.
Imagine rolling through downtown Detroit with your Charger Daytona’s vibration system configured to mimic the menacing chop of a late-’60s 426 Hemi with a big ol’ nasty cam; that’s pretty interesting, in our eyes. (It might sound far-fetched, but at one time, so did replicating a Fox-body Mustang‘s instrument cluster. Then the new Mustang debuted, and the digital instrument panel features that very ability.)
The system could also have the added benefit of increasing the safety of those in proximity by mitigating the near-silent nature by which EVs slink around. The vibrations in the chassis could emit some noise of their own, and when paired with the active sound system, the vehicle as a whole would probably be noisy enough to be easier to detect to bystanders.
Dodge’s Charger Daytona will debut later this year, and although this article has been focused on the all-electric variant, we also expect a gasoline-powered version—likely sporting some variant of the 3.0-liter twin-turbo straight-six Hurricane engine—to bow first. That version certainly wouldn’t need a system like this to make it noticeable, but for the electric version, this idea has us curious.
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Roger Corman might have been a consultant on this: “The Tingler” et al.
Or maybe the mid-70’s cinema experience of “Sensurround” better applies.
Whatever form, it’s entertainment trickery.
Is this where we’ve come to?
Excellent! Now, when the vehicle runs out of charge, can they make it chug and buck a little before coasting to a stop. Also, when we open the access door to plug it in, can they simulate the smell of gas wafting up so we can imagine we’re pumping fuel instead of electrons? Oooh -ooh, how about making the electricity “bubble out” and get our hands all smelly like when we pumped the gas in too fast in our old ICE vehicles (especially the ones with filler necks behind the rear license plate)? That would really fool us into thinking we were burning dinosaurs! Can they make a little can of additive (just electronics inside) that we can “dump into the tank” to increase power, so we’ll think we’re putting additional octane in? I’ll bet there are all kinds of ways that they can MAKE SOMETHING SEEM LIKE WHAT IT ISN’T – especially after they’ve spent billions telling us that what we now have is terrible. I’d like to go back to the planet on which I was born, please, and leave whatever crazy place this is that I’ve obviously been secretly moved to…
Hmmm – can they electronically simulate exhaust fumes to come out of a tube on the new EVs? Maybe even make pick-ups and semis that simulate “rolling coal”? Talk about realism! Or, is that taking this a bit too far?
Yes, this is a gimmick, but the world you were born in is dying. Literally, it’s on fire or drowning. We HAVE to find ways to continue existence on it or we won’t be driving anything. Not even silly electric cars that try to give us some of the old excitement.
Excuse my ignorance, but how is literally adding sensors and another motor to an EV (one that rattles against things to simulate engine vibration) – things that will suck juice from the batteries just to try and fool people – going to save the burning/drowning planet? I must have missed that detail. The planet I’m longing for is one that, even if it requires change, just levels with me about what the change needs to be, why the change needs to happen, and doesn’t try to feed me some sort of gimmick-laden substitute that hasn’t even been proven to effect any real change at all, given that we’re burning petroleum-based fuel to generate the electricity.
Oh, I see. None of this was in good faith. You had no want for discussion, just to complain. I misread. I’ll let you scream into the void of the internet and fill the world with more hate and negativity when you should probably just have scrolled on. See how many problems that solves. Have a good one.
Yep, spot on. You pegged me.
‘ the world you were born in is dying. Literally, it’s on fire or drowning.’
Far be it from me to insult your religion, but your faith in man’s ability to alter the global climate, completely independently of all prior climate changing forces, is laughably fallacious.
I’m up for a discussion. But we must agree to consider external and internal actions upon the global climate. Not just snap shot one atmospheric gas, nor ignore the secondary impacts of increased CO2 concentrations. My guess is that you are still reading the scholarly journals and articles, all based upon the few original climate models with manipulated data sets to fit the desired outcome.
Oh well, Cheers Seth. Keep that heat at 62, we don’t want you producing too much pollution.
Fake noise and fake feel is no substitute.
Those folks are called Posers.
Absurd..
It’s akin to when we used to stick a piece of cardboard to our bicycle fender brace to make “engine noise”
They should put their new vibrator and loud speakers on the new in-line six.