Motoring’s soundtrack used to be generated by the petrol engine and car radio. Near-silent battery power and snazzy infotainment systems have provided an aural void—and a high-tech way to fill it. Carmakers are giving their electric vehicles’ occupants, and anyone within earshot, an alternative set of sounds to enliven the journey.

One trend is to replace the roar of a petrol engine with the roar of a petrol engine. Artificial-noise generation offers a flavour of the past in the cars of the future. Many evs can blast passengers with fake engine noises just as the engine sound of cars has long been tweaked and tuned in sportier models to sound more raucous in the cabin than on the road. Some new models can now inflict that cacophony on the outside world.