Mercedes EQ EV – Silence is Golden [Video]

Ahead of the debut of the first Mercedes EQ electric cars – the Mercedes EQ C – Mercedes uses an EQ Concept to get you used to the silence of electric cars.

The production version of the Mercedes EQ C – an electric Mercedes SUV with the Jaguar I-Pace and Audi e-tron in its sights – is imminent, so Mercedes think this is a good time to start getting prospective buyers used to the idea that cars don’t need to have an engine soundtrack to be appealing.

Rather than take the EQ C out for a jaunt to make their point, Mercedes has taken the 2016 EQ Concept out for a bit of a drive, and given it a varied ICE soundtrack thanks to the passenger sat in the back.

That passenger is beatboxer Daniel Jovanov, famed for his “Human Car Sounds”, and he delivers a varied, and slightly odd, selection of ICE soundtracks to accompany the drive.

But halfway through the drive, Jovanov is ejected, leaving him standing on the tarmac as the EQ glides off in silence, leaving Jovanov to continue mimicking the noise of an ICE car.

It’s a pitch to say that the silence of an electric car is a virtue, not a drawback, as an electric future beckons where an aural soundtrack won’t be part of the equation. Goodbye Noise – Hello Electric.

But even if Mercedes is now working to convince us silent driving is a blessing, the chances are they, and every other car maker, will be forced in to adding a soundtrack of some description to their cars to stop distracted pedestrians from wandering in to the path of a looming EV.

Hopefully, it won’t be the synthesised sound of Mr Jovanov.

Mercedes EQ. Goodbye Noise. Hello Electric Video