No it should be quiet, I would expect as quiet as an i3s but have never driven one.

 

It's likely your Niro has the motor/reduction gear issue

Braking/regen noise

Hi guys I noticed this yesterday and I'm not sure if it's new or if it's normal and I've only just noticed it, but whenever I brake our the regen kicks in the is a clicking noise. Which gets louder/faster as the car gets closer to stopping. Is this something I should be worried about our is...

www.speakev.com

Noises vary between a small ice, moped, bike with something stick in the spokes...



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It shouldn't be making much in the way of motor noise - and for completeness, the VESS sound stops above 20mph so it won't be that.

John.

 

So this is the noise I can hear when the car is moving, in this example from zero to around 50mph, but it continues to increase in pitch above this speed. e-Niro Noise

 

Not supposed to be like that. Sounds like the same issue other people are experiencing (including myself).

 

Having recently had a new gearbox fitted to cure the low speed stick in the spokes noise ( which it hasn't totally) I now also have the same high pitch whine but only from 60 - 80 km/hr.

If anyone with a correctly functioning e-niro ( if there is such a thing ) with no clicking, tapping or whining noises could post a recording of the noise level in their e-Niro it would be a very useful benchmark to understand what I should be aiming for.

 

I'll see if I can make a recording when I have a chance.

BTW, I don't think my car's whine is quite as loud as the recording posted earlier.. but it's certainly audible.

 

Sounds not quite right to me. I've never driven an e-niro, but my Kona doesn't make any continual whining noise like that. At least it's only a loaner. . .

 

I’ve borrowed one for the weekend. Just driven it around the car park for a minute and I suspect it has the same issue.

I was hoping to take it for a long drive on Sunday, so hopefully I’m just hearing the pedestrian warning tone.

 

Panic over - it’s the VESS making the noise in mine.

 

SJF73 did you get it sorted / looked at. Be interested to know what it was.

 

Nope. Noise still there and just as intrusive and loud. Wife’s i3S is repaired and ready to be returned so the hire company will be collecting in Wednesday.

 

When I drove an i3 a month or so back my wife and I both commented on how quiet it was especially as we pulled out of the car park. We have an e-Niro and e-Golf. Niro definitely has more of a whine than the Golf from 35-50mph. Above 50 it is drowned out by wind and road noise.

 

Ours sounds quieter when sitting in the passenger seat, or I don't notice the whine as much when not driving it.

 

Yep sounds normal. On my first test drive I thought it was a bit like being in the cabin of a passenger jet with the muted whine of the jet engines. A lot quieter than my old Octavia Diesel though!

 

I had an e-Niro loaner and I heard a distinctly more 'agricultural' set of noises from the gears and turning mechanicals than is present in the Soul. Not quite on the order of the OP's posting, but definitely 'that way'. The drivetrain is simply not as quiet as the Soul (notwithstanding Soul's distinct 4kHz inverter noise, which I did not hear in e-Niro, so presumably they have implemented some dithering on switching speed now, or maybe there was just too much noise from the transmission to hear it!?).

 

My hearing is not great but not bad either and getting older. I had chance to drive the car on a painted smooth underground car park surface on Saturday. It was pretty much silent like my i3. Everything else I put down to wind and tyres.

 

I have had my e-Niro since September and done 5k Miles. First I don’t understand why anyone would turn off the VESS as it is there for a reason - safety for pedestrians. It is not that loud and you get used to it. As to normal noise when driving, it is similar to most other EVs I have driven - such as the Leaf, Zoe, TM3 etc.
I considered an i3 ( too small, expensive, range poor) and the TM3 ( expensive, poor boot arrangement and not practical if you transport kids and aged parents.) I still think in terms of value for money and range the e- Niro is hard to beat. I am aware that a few people have had a particular problem with a noise from faulty drive trains. However, anyone experiencing this should get it sorted by the dealer. Otherwise if you can afford the price and wait I think the car is a good choice.

 

I don't quite get the issue with VESS either.

I'll admit I do switch it off once in a while, usually when I'm in start stop traffic just to enjoy the relative silence
Or if I'm being paranoid and listening it for strange noises from the drivetrain

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Good find. Looking at the spectrogram in Audacity, I agree that it looks like the chirping is most pronounced at 3 KHz. I forgot to double check that view before I exported the files. I assumed it was a higher frequency because I used the high-pass filter set to 10 KHz for the first filtered upload and could still hear it.

Well, if this indeed is not normal on the Niro, that means I have yet another EV drivetrain defect on a 5000 mile car. I don't think I can deal with another 6+ week repair like I had for the motor replacement. The motor clicking was much easier to demonstrate and record because it occurred at low (below 10mph) speeds on my car. I'm not sure if a mechanic sitting in passenger seat would still be able to hear this chirping because it only occurs at speeds with significant background road and wind noise.

If you or anyone else can pay attention to these type of noises when driving in the 30-50 mph range with regen level 1 or 2, please post your findings. The noise seems to start when you cross a specific threshold of energy consumption or regeneration and creates a resonance until you lightly depress or release the accelerator pedal to shift energy use into another range.

Nothing special for the recording. Used the built-in "Recorder" app on my Oneplus 6 Android phone. Put phone on floor near accelerator pedal with microphone end pointed towards the front of the car.

 

Good find. Looking at the spectrogram in Audacity, I agree that it looks like the chirping is most pronounced at 3 KHz. I forgot to double check that view before I exported the files. I assumed it was a higher frequency because I used the high-pass filter set to 10 KHz for the first filtered upload and could still hear it.

Looks like you ran a low pass filter, there's nothing above 10k on the second file.
Is the chirp only with regen? I'll propably be driving the Niro later as the timers on the Zappi didn't work last night so the Golf has very little charge in it.
It doesn't sound like a dirve train issue to me, it's more like an electronic chirp.

 

Call me crazy but I like that sound, sounds like the Jetsons.


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Second recording I posted was definitely not filtered by me. I uploaded the .wav file that came directly off my phone. It's possible the file hosting service did some filtering when they converted the .wav to something compatible with web browsers or there simply was nothing captured in that range. The first file I uploaded was exported by me as .mp3 prior to uploading so maybe it avoided some additional filtering by the site. I assume you went into Audacity preferences and raised the default Spectrogram maximum frequency from default 8Khz?

When I say drivetrain, I mean everything EV specific: battery->inverter->motor->gearbox. Everything else in the car was recycled from the ICE/Hybrid Niro so I'm not expecting any premature failures on components that have been tested for the past 3 years. Unfortunately because my car spent so much time either with a defective noisy motor or in service, I don't have a good memory of what the inverter sounded like when new. The electrical chirping does seem to stand out a lot now that the motor is so quiet and not covering up all other noises. Will probably need to test drive another EV Niro myself to confirm what level of noise is normal.

 

I've been out in ours today and I can't hear that 3kHz chirp in our car. I did notice something when accelerating quite quickly onto the dual carriageway, it sounds a bit like a turbo spinning up and I think it is at the same 3kHz. Other than that I couldn't hear anything, unless it is only making the noise at very slow speeds as the VESS as on most of the time and we weren't driving at less than 25mph for very many minutes.

I'm like you and can't remember what the car sounded like before it started to make the clicking noise but I do remember that is was more noisy than our Golf, and still is, and listerning to these recordings on here they all sound quite similar, and familiar at the same time. That is reassuring that they are probably all making the same noises as minie and it is now perfectly normal.

 

About 95% of the noise in mine is the tires. I had the same size and type Michelin's on my 2017 Volt and they were also noisy, but got somewhat quieter as they wore in. Hopefully these will also get quieter with use.

 

About 95% of the noise in mine is the tires.

I think you'll find that's the road!