They’re supposed to be better for the environment and they are supposed to be better overall compared to internal combustion engines. Electic vehicles are being pushed hard in the market lately, and manufacturers are scrambling to jump aboard this shift in the market before they look like they aren’t paying attention at all. Quite frankly, we’re skeptical, but you’d be amazed at just how far and fast the world is moving on the idea of EVs. Naturally, the safety folk have been having their say too, and in one key feature of an EV, they’re starting to propose rules. You see, one of the positive benefits of an electric vehicle is that they are exceptionally quiet. No engine, no thrum, nothing more than a slight whirr as you smartly move off on your way. Kind of nice, actually. Sometimes we’re all about the noise, but sometimes peace and quiet works too. Except at crosswalks, in parking lots, and on small side streets where people might actually be out doing things. Your EV might sneak up on them and before anyone knows what happened, there’s a muffled thump noise and now there’s a lawsuit.

Come next year, an NHTSA rule will require EVs to make noise at low speeds in order to help avoid such human vs. iCar interactions from happening. Ordinarily, the noise you got wouldn’t be up for debate. If Nissan, for example, wanted the Leaf to sound like George Jetson’s flying car, there you go, you’re now living in the 1960s version of the future. Just be grateful that it doesn’t sound like a trash truck backing up. But what if you could choose what noise came out of the EV? That’s a potential note in the rules…the key phrasing is, “allow manufactures of hybrid and electric vehicles (HEVs) to install a number of driver-selectable pedestrian alert sounds in each HEV they manufacture”.

Now, let’s think about this for a minute. Any sound, you say? Imagine a Tesla Model 3 creeping through the Kroger parking lot at six miles an hour while the car is blasting Slayer’s “Raining Blood” the whole time on repeat. Or maybe you could have a Chevrolet Bolt that makes noise similar to a pick striking a rock. Who knows. Or maybe you want to give that Porsche Taycan the proper flat-six howl that it deserves, or you just want to be a bit of an ass and have a full-kill marching band playing as you prepare to leave Barnes and Noble.

So, hypothetical question time. Thanks to lawmakers, you’re stuck in the electric-or-nothing world. What noise does your EV play to warn other human beings to get out of your way? Do you pick an engine? Maybe the sound of a Boeing taxiing around an airport? Or do you do the proper thing, pick one particular Ludacris song about avoiding traffic, and make sure that anyone can hear you?