Nissan Leaf to gain artificial sound system to boost safety

An update to the popular Nissan Leaf will soon see it come with a sound system designed to simulate traditional car noises in a bid to tackle fatalities associated with road users not realising an electric vehicle is approaching.

The incoming 2022 Nissan Leaf is fitted with a new Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) nicknamed ’Canto’ by its developers, specifically designed to transmit artificially simulated driving sounds, alerting people to the presence of a fully-electric vehicle.

The Japanese marque made the announcement as the new Leaf goes on sale in Europe.

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The 2021 Leaf with Canto technology

Fully compliant with the new European regulations, the AVAS builds on the alerting sound already incorporated in the first-generation Nissan Leaf.

“Customer safety is paramount, not only for those behind the wheel, but those surrounding the car as well,” said Marco Fioravanti, regional vice president, product planning for AMIEO (Nissan’s way of saying Africa, Middle East, India, Europe (including Russia) and Oceania).

“As the world becomes more and more electrified, this sound will soon become part of the soundscape of our roads as Nissan’s signature EV sound moving us closer to our goal of a zero-fatality driving experience.”

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The Nissan Leaf e+ was launched in Australia in April

As well as adding AVAS to the Leaf’s safety suite, the updated model's assistance aids include blind spot intervention and an intelligent rear view mirror as standard.

By being quieter than internal combustion engines, fully-electric motors are considered zero-emission not only in terms of CO2, but also noise pollution.

‘Canto’ has been created by sound designers and engineers at Nissan in Japan, and locally adapted for Europe at Nissan Technical Centre Europe using a spectrum of sonic palettes. The sound has been purposely composed to ensure it varies in tone and pitch depending on whether the vehicle is accelerating, decelerating, or reversing.

Automatically activated when travelling at speeds up to 18mph (29km/h), Nissan claims ‘Canto’ complements its surroundings and is clearly audible, without being too alarming to pedestrians, residents and passengers.

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The range-topping e+ made it to our shores in April

“After engineering the ‘Canto’ sound, we installed it to the 2021 Leaf to enable us to carry out both subjective and objective evaluations to better match the expectations of the European customer,” said Paul Speed-Andrews, noise and vibration development manager at Nissan Technical Centre Europe.

“It was important that we not only created a sound that aligned with the new regulations, but also matched Nissan’s brand image. We have always been pioneers in safety and innovation and it is great to know we are helping to shape the future of electrification,” he added.

Following the recent unveiling of EV36Zero, a £1billion (AU$1.85bn) flagship EV hub, Nissan continues its efforts in Europe to achieve carbon neutrality.

Back in April, Nissan introduced a new range-topping e+ variant of its electric Leaf hatchback equipped with a more advanced battery pack that squeezes in more than 50 per cent of additional capacity.

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The first-generation Leaf had its own alert system

For the e+ model, the Leaf's battery pack grows from 40kWh to 62kWh with corresponding improvements to charging times, power and torque outputs, as well as range.

For their advancements, the higher-density battery and upgraded systems add $10,500 to the Leaf’s bottom line for a new starting price of $60,490 before on-road costs.

Leaf fans who can’t stretch to the enhanced Leaf e+ are still offered the original 40kWh version for $49,990 before on-road costs.

Nissan Australia has confirmed all Leaf and Leaf e+ models coming to Australia in 2022 will be fitted with the Canto alert system.