Most of us enjoy listening to our favourite tunes as we travel from A to B. In an electric car, however, you might want to reconsider your taste in music - and Kia is here to tell you why.
In a recent experiment conducted by Korean car maker Kia, the car firm discovered that the real-world driving range of an electric car can be influenced by playing music in the cabin.
The study was overseen by acoustics,noise and psychoacoustics specialist and University of Salford lecturer Dr Duncan Williams.
Participants in the trial were tasked with driving the all-electric Kia EV6 over an 18-mile route while a fixed playlist of songs were played through the car’s Meridian Audio sound system, featuring different music genres and songs.
The drivers were each fitted with an Empatica E4, a medial grade wearable device to record biometric measurements such as changes in skin temperature and heart rate.
Kia claims that music can now be added to the list of factors that impact the real-world driving range of an EV, as the participants were influenced by the tempo, beat and dynamics of different songs and changed their driving style.
Classical music such as Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 created a calm, focused and balanced environment for the driver resulting in what Kia says was a more ‘composed and level-headed’ driving style.
This particular genre of music preserved the range of the EV6 the best, with test participants driving up to four times more efficiently while listening to Beethoven than other tracks on the playlist.
At the other end of the spectrum, the up-tempo pop songs such as Blinding lights by The Weekend provoked more intense emotion in the test drivers. This resulted in a ‘more spirited and energetic driving style’ which made them twice as inefficient as they tapped into more of the EV6’s performance.
Sitting in between Beethoven and The Weekend was Adele. Her smash hit Hello was found to create a more emotive driving style thanks to the song's slower pace, which had the potential to reduce the EV6’s driving range during the test, although not as much as other faster paced tracks.
Kia said that participants had no prior knowledge of the test route or playlist. Testing took place across two days, with a start point at Meridian Audio’s Huntingdon headquarters in Cambridgeshire.
So, readers. If you want to eke out the range of your EV when you next venture out on a journey, you might opt for The Sound of Silence instead of Darude Sandstorm.
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