Karma Sounds Out Revero GT

California-based Karma Automotive LLC’s redesigned Revero GT plug-in hybrid sport sedan will feature a racy tone to warn pedestrians when driving in all-electric mode at low speeds.

Karma describes the sound as a “low-level, throaty” electric hum similar to that emitted by an electric guitar when it’s first plugged into an amplifier. The noise, which the carmaker developed in conjunction with Boise, Idaho-based ECCO Safety Group, also is likened to a spaceship in a science fiction movie.

You can listen to Revero’s unique sound HERE. Different ECCO warning sounds are used in more than 600 types of emergency and commercial vehicles worldwide.

Speakers at the front and rear of the Revero will emit the noise when the vehicle is traveling under silent electric power at speeds of 30 kph (19 mph) or less.

The U.S. began phasing in regulations this month that will require carmakers to equip all EVs and hybrids operating at low speed all-electric mode with such sound alerts. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is considering a petition to allow drivers to choose among several available warning tones for their vehicles.

Due this autumn, the $135,000 2020 Revero uses a turbocharged 1.5-liter 3-cylinder engine sourced from BMW to power a pair of electric motors that drive the wheels. A new 28-kWh nickel-manganese cobalt battery replaces the 20-kWh lithium-iron phosphate unit used in the outgoing Revero.