Getting behind the wheel of a car — especially one with some performance vigor — attacks nearly all of your senses. You see the scenery flying by, you feel the g-forces in your stomach, all while the unmistakable scent of exploding petrol and burning rubber fills your nostrils.
Sound is obviously a huge part of the adventure as well, but it’s one that’s lost on most electric cars. EVs are nearly silent save for a slight mechanical whine and basic road noise, but a Japanese carmaker and a musical equipment manufacturer have teamed up to change that.
Roland, along with GLM, maker of the ZZ electric sports car you see above, has developed a unique in-car synthesizer to give ZZ owners something to listen to besides music. We’re not sure exactly what it’ll sound like yet, but the company promises “ingenious neo-futuristic sounds that will give sports car enthusiasts the experience of driving a space ship on the road.” Our best guess is a blend of TIE fighter and the Jetson’s bubble-top aerocar, but whatever the soundtrack may be, it’s bound to be unlike anything else on the road.
The product utilizes Roland’s SuperNATURAL synthesizer technology to produce studio-quality sounds based on vehicle acceleration, deceleration, and motor load variances. Buyers will be able to choose between a variety of different tones when the product arrives this fall.
As for the ZZ itself, it looks like a cross between a Lotus Elise and a Tesla Roadster, and that’s certainly not a bad thing. Performance is right in line with the Roadster as well, as the ZZ will sprint up to 60 mph in a mere 3.9 seconds. The car weighs just 1,874 pounds and produces around 300 horsepower and 306 pound-feet of torque.
