Electric vehicles are largely silent when they drive. What potential dangers does that pose?

Especially when they drive slowly, electric vehicles are quieter than cars with combustion engines.

At speeds beyond 30 kpm, the rolling noise is the dominant sound heard in both conventional as well as electric vehicles. In cities, the reduced noise can contribute to improving the quality of life. However, endangering others needs to be avoided, which is why starting in 2019, all new types of electric vehicles and by 2021 all new electric vehicles in general need to be equipped with the so-called AVAS (Acoustic Vehicle Alerting System), a sound module with an external speaker. The requirement is that from when the vehicle starts driving up to a speed of 20 km/h as well as when it is driving backwards, it needs to emit a sound. That sound needs to be a permanent audible signal and needs to be comparable in volume and sound to the noise made by a vehicle of a comparable class with a combustion engine.