Electric road vehicle provided with a reproduction device for the realization of a sound associable with a gear shift and related method

A method for realizing a sound associable with a gear shift in a road vehicle (1) comprising at least one electric motor (4) configured to deliver drive torque to at least two wheels (3) of the road vehicle (1);

• the road vehicle (1) comprising a gear shifting system (19), which allows a driver (DR) to select one among a plurality of virtual gears and to shift from one virtual gear to another while driving;
• the method comprising the steps of:
• detecting a gear shift request provided by the driver (DR) to an interface device (17) of the gear shifting system (19);
• and
• reproducing, at least within a vehicular cockpit (5), a sound(S) associable with a shift from one virtual gear to another;
• wherein the step of reproducing comprises injecting, following the detection of a gear shift request, an acoustical current (IqS, IdS) or voltage (VqS, VdS) as input of the electric motor (4);
• wherein the at least one acoustical current (IqS, IdS) or voltage (VqS, VdS) excites a frequency that causes a vibration of at least one resonant element (9) of the road vehicle (1);
• wherein the resonant element (9) emits, due to the vibration, in the form of acoustic waves, the sound(S) associable with the shift from one virtual gear to another;
• wherein the sound(S) associable with a shift from one virtual gear to another is an impulsive sound having a sound wave compressed in an interval (TS) of time of less than one second and having a peak (A) in amplitude equal to or greater than 20 dB.

A road vehicle (1) comprising:

• four wheels (2, 3), of which at least two are drive wheels (3);
• a passenger compartment (5) configured to accommodate at least one driver (DR);
• at least one electric motor (4) configured to provide drive torque to the at least two drive wheels (3);
• a gear shifting system (19) which is configured to allow the driver (DR) to select one among a plurality of virtual gears and to shift from one virtual gear to another while driving;
• an acoustic system (6) comprising at least one reproducing device (7) configured to generate a sound(S) associable with a shift from one virtual gear to another;
• and
• a control unit configured to detect a gear shift request from the driver (DR) via the gear shift system (19) and control the acoustic system (6) to reproduce the sound(S);
• wherein the acoustic system (6) itself comprises the electric motor (4), which is mechanically connected to the reproducing device (7) so as to be able to excite a resonant frequency thereof;
• wherein the control unit (8) is further configured to control the electric motor (4) so as to inject at least one acoustical current (IqS, IdS) or voltage (VqS, VdS) as an input of the electric motor (4) itself;
• wherein the at least one acoustical current (IqS, IdS) or voltage (VqS, VdS) excites a frequency which causes a vibration of the at least one reproduction device (7), which emits, due to the vibration, in the form of acoustic waves, a sound(S) as a function of the injected acoustical current (IqS, IdS) or voltage (VqS, VdS);
• wherein the sound(S) has a duration from 10 ms to 200 ms.