Switching to EVs isn’t just the next step into the future. It’s a friggin’ paradigm shift. One of the things that is putting off a lot of people is how silent EVs are. If you’ve been driving an internal combustion-engined car for decades, EVs will disappoint you in the aural department. While many governments have mandated that EVs come with external speakers to notify pedestrians about the EV approaching them, Tesla has taken this to the next level.
Tesla allows you to use any soundtrack for the external speakers, and YouTuber Brooks Weisblat from Drag Times showcases the same on his Tesla Model S Plaid. In his latest video, he has enabled the Dodge Hellcat’s sound on his Plaid and it is weirdly incomprehensible to us.
Dodge Hellcat’s Spirit In A Tesla
In this video, you can hear the Tesla Model S Plaid sound like a Dodge Hellcat engine. It’s merely a soundtrack that is played on the car’s external speakers and isn’t attached to your throttle inputs. So, it will be a little unsettling for the driver, too.
The NHTSA had mandated that EVs have to make some sounds to alert others on the road. In compliance with this, Tesla started installing external speakers on its cars in 2019. But now, the automaker has opened up this feature to the owners and they can choose whichever soundtrack they’d like the external speakers to blare. Tesla allows you to connect a USB device to the infotainment system and save up to five sounds. Imagine arriving in a Dodge and leaving in a Lamborghini!
The only thing that makes us feel alright about this, to some extent, is that the Model S Plaid is mighty fast. So fast that it made the GT-R look like a joke on a drag strip. Here are some specs in a nutshell:
-* Based on the Model S
-* Tri-motor setup
-* 1,020 horses combined
-* 0-60 mph in 1.99 seconds under ideal conditions
-* Quarter-mile run in 9.23 seconds with a trap speed of 155 mph in ideal conditions
-* Top speed of 200 mph
-* World’s most aero-efficient car - Drag coefficient of 0.208
-* Estimated range of 390 miles
-* Supports fast charging up to 250 kW and can add 187 miles of range in 15 minutes
-* F1-inspired, yoke steering wheel
-* 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster
-* 17-inch touchscreen system
-* Screen for rear passengers that offers PS5-level performance
-* Priced at $129,990
Final Thoughts
Expect automakers to exploit this feature and use it as an emotional bait in the future. For now, it is just a soundtrack that plays on loop. But, it won’t be far-fetched to say that EVmakers will soon allow the sounds to be embedded into the system and change based on your throttle inputs. Now it’s the aural soul added to an EV. What’s next? A fragrance that smells like petrol? Oh, wait! Ford’s already beaten us to it!
While this may take a while for us to register and appreciate, imagine a well-implemented soundtrack that works in tandem with how the car is driven! Can’t wait for a Dodge EV now, can you?
Watch the video below and hear how the Tesla sounds with a cammed Dodge Hellcat’s grunts blaring out of the speakers. Yay or nay? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.