The solutions are intended to address challenges unique to EVs and offer consumers an improved level of entertainment, communication and comfort, flexibly and sustainably.
The shift to electric powertrains as a response to climate change concerns means that by 2040, according to Bloomberg NEF, over half of all global vehicle sales and over a third of vehicle fleets will be electric.
Limited range anxiety remains a concern and have made the inclusion of popular in-car features that require a power draw, including premium audio and entertainment, especially challenging when engineering for an electric vehicle environment.
Leveraging efficient acoustic technologies and cloud-based software innovation, EV Plus+ Solutions look to address these challenges with a scalable, low weight, and reduced complexity system architecture that provides double the acoustic power and performance without impacting range when compared to a traditional audio system with comparable performance.
Consumer demand for premium, personalised in-cabin experiences from vehicles is expected to increase so EV Plus+ Solutions are the first-ever approach that delivers branded audio and personalised experiences designed expressly for electric vehicles.
“At HARMAN, we believe the next-generation of mobility should convert the time you spend in your car into time well spent – and electric vehicles are no exception,” said Bill Wyman, VP of Global Marketing, Lifestyle Automotive. “Environmental concerns are guiding purchase decisions more and more, but the demand for premium experiences hasn’t changed. Through the groundbreaking delivery system of Ecotect that underpins EV Plus+ Solutions, we’re enabling automakers to fulfill these needs for their customers, without compromises, for the very first time.”
Integral to EV Plus+ Solutions are three new HARMAN offerings:
- Ecotect: Revolutionary electric vehicle system design solution ensures powerful audio performance with half the parts, reduced weight, reduced complexity and reduced power consumption when compared to a traditional system. Ecotect features high-efficiency speakers, a proprietary Prodigy Booster amplifier and Power Manager 2.0 technology, all layered in via an architecture that leverages innovative speaker locations, sustainable materials and sophisticated signal processing to deliver premium audio and communications experiences with EV-optimised efficiency.
- Audio Marketplace: New, cloud-based ecosystem powered by HARMAN Ignite, Audio Marketplace allows users to add and update in-vehicle audio, entertainment and communication features on-demand, with the touch of a button.
- Software-enabled branded audio: Downloadable, instantly activated and leveraging the Ecotect system components, software-enabled branded audio offers a new way to upgrade from a base audio to a premium branded audio experience in new vehicles – over the air, at the touch of a button. With this unique delivery model, consumers can elect to add premium, branded audio to any Ecotect equipped vehicle at purchase, or to activate it later on at any time during the vehicle lifecycle.
Through Audio Marketplace, consumers will be able to personalise their in-car offerings to fit their preferences with experiences including:
- Voice-Sensing Volume Fade: For clear and seamless in-car conversations, Voice-Sensing Volume Fade provides EV occupants with innovative technology that can differentiate in-car communication from music, adjusting the audio volume level down when conversations are taking place, and automatically turning the music back up as soon as the conversation has finished.
- eESS Safe and Sound: For increased pedestrian safety and external entertainment audio, eESS Safe and Sound projects electronic sound from external speakers at the front and rear of the vehicle to inform pedestrians of an EV’s speed and location. As an added feature, these external speakers can be linked to the vehicle subwoofers to create a full-bandwidth external sound system to enjoy outdoors.
- HALOsonic Road Noise Cancellation (RNC): For improved in-cabin comfort, HALOsonic RNC, part of HARMAN’s proprietary, HALOsonic noise management solution, employs acoustic noise cancelling techniques to reduce unwanted road noise inside the vehicle cabin. This minimises road noise while reducing reliance on heavy dampening materials. The result is a quieter, more comfortable ride for consumers, and the ability for OEMs to deliver that experience in the most fuel efficient, EV-optimised way possible.
