- The Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust was developed to capture the V-8's sensory experience in EVs
- All 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EVs will feature it
- The use of hardware and power is like a subwoofer, producing V-8 sound and vibes
Ironically, to get a new Dodge muscle car with that signature V-8 sound, you'll need to go with an EV.
The drive systems of modern electric vehicles are naturally smooth and almost silent, and some EV enthusiasts already know and love that. Meanwhile, Dodge has phased out the V-8 for its muscle car lineup. But the team behind the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV, which is due to go on sale in Scat Pack form within weeks, aims to show it can win over traditional enthusiasts, too—by building a V-8 engine. experience back.
What does it take? In a recent interview with Kevin Hellman, executive vice president of product for Stellantis' Dodge brand, on the floor of the LA auto show, Green Car Reports found out that the famously “bone-shaking” Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust does more than make a muscle-car rumble. Adds well-calculated noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) back into the mix.
Hellman said the rumble is one thing you'll be able to hear from the driver's seat, and the team behind the Charger Daytona wants it to feel like, when you start the car, it leaves no doubt whether the power is on or not.
On quick starts, revs, and downshifts—outside the auto-show floor, which would never be allowed with a real V-8—Hellman showed us it felt the part. But as for the popularity of the driver's seat, and all, you'll have to wait another week or so for first driving impressions.
“Your butt tells you that the car is on,” he said in a nutshell, stressing that the vibration that this system generates makes it much louder than the noise in the cabins found in other electric cars. “And to be honest, if you're driving the car fast and you're driving around the track, everything else, that visceral feeling is a good response.”
2024 Dodge Charger Daytona
Fratzonic produces more NVH for EV?
To do that, the Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust is a unit that produces noise and vibration. Four “custom-designed elastomer isolator blocks” support the system and act like those on the engine's exhaust system. Inside are “high-efficiency, high-bandwidth transducers”—which Hellman breaks down into a combination of conventional drivers and two so-called passive radiators (essentially a driver without a magnet). It uses those passive radiators—“transmitters,” Hellman called them—”to get that low-end growl, which is the sound you'd expect from a muscle car,” he said.
All that said, the materials that go into a Fratzonic unit are “very similar” to what's built into a subwoofer box, according to Hellman, although there's a patented design surrounding how those transducers and speakers work together within their volume to create sound. The actual capacity of this system is 36 liters—about the size of a 10-gallon gas tank, or a small carry-on suitcase, which is only 1.3 cubic feet.
That's a lot but not all. There is an “active sound control” system throughout the car, including some tuning from the sound system, Hellman said, but about 90% of what the driver hears comes from that external unit in the back of the car.
2024 Dodge Charger Daytona
It's up to 126 dB, but the Charger V-8's grunt is what counts
Noise isn't just for those inside an EV. The team's working goal for the system was to be as loud as the outgoing Hellcat—126 decibels. But it really comes down to getting a tone that matches the low notes of the engine, Hellman explained, as you can play really loud and hit 126 decibels easily.
The EV had to sound like a Dodge V-8, the team decided early on, so they started with several samples of historic Hemi V-8s, 426 V-8s, modern Hemis and Hellcats, and a 1960 Chrysler Turbine. car, to wrap those sounds in the output. It then asks all participants to rate each theme how they like the way it starts, shuts down, refreshes, and runs. And they asked if it sounded or felt like a Dodge.
This program involves psychology and is considered a motivational sound, not a cheap simulation, so Dodge spent some time in the clinic. “We've done a lot, and the agency we've been working with has put together some themes that range from low-level to low-level, to all kinds of crazy space stuff, and we got them at our car clinics, and then we took them to SEMA,” Hellman said.
He explained what the results were, a low-frequency hum, with a futuristic edge. Meanwhile, the waveforms do not resolve at the same time, to give the natural complexity of the original.
2024 Dodge Charger Daytona
While the Daytona EV team avoided the super-futuristic route, there are plenty of EVs that have gone that route. The sounds of the Ford Mustang Mach-E, for example, were influenced by the classic sci-fi films of the 1980s, including “Blade Runner” and Batman's Tumbler. But only for those inside the car.
“When you go out and drive a car, you can see that there is a familiarity in the sound that you can't even put your finger on,” he explained. “That's because it operates at 38 Hz, which is very close to the Hemi firing system.”
Location, location, location is part of this, too. In this acoustic puzzle the sounds are all tuned to sound more like a natural V-8 to the driver—though they're well-directed outside the car, based on an automated sound test.
2024 Dodge Charger Daytona
Fratzonic solves the acoustic-physics puzzle
Like the Hellcat and many classic muscle cars that preceded it, the project became larger than life. Hellman said the Fratzonic project began with: “This car is going to make sounds that all other EVs don't,” but quickly became focused on the deeper feelings of the V-8.
Combining, in a nutshell, the study of linguistics with acoustic physics: You have to use air to make vowel sounds, and each of those vowel sounds can be characterized as a specific frequency band. After hearing, briefly, that the Fratzonic is used in the car, at idle and in motion, I can say that getting all those booming vowels in the V-8 at idle makes a difference.
Stellantis NVH engineers in Michigan—actually the same people who would tune the exhaust on a real V-8 muscle car—and an unnamed agency that works on sound and special effects for Hollywood movies, built six kits. Then in this program, they train them to play at different levels and variations depending on the dynamics provided by the car.
2024 Dodge Charger Daytona
The list of parameters that influence the sound a vehicle makes is long, and includes vehicle speed, engine speed, throttle position, load, regen mode, and drive mode.
Generally, Hellman says, switching to an aggressive driving mode will increase the pitch and volume of the sound. Auto is the most basic, while Sport is a bit louder, and Track and Drag are more responsive.
You can also turn off the sound completely if you don't like it. Or there is a Custom drive mode that can dial in a different level for each mode as desired.
Adding that NVH correctly and reliably
Noise and vibration control systems will be installed on all models of the upcoming 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV. When I mentioned the cost of the system, Hellman simply said that “we treat it like any other part of the car that we believe is part of the experience.”
The system is powered by a dedicated 600-watt amplifier, and power consumption is comparable to that of a high-end audio system. The Daytona Charger's design probably already brings some of that back to the aero-savvy of its front R-Wing setup that directs the wind for efficiency or downforce.
When asked if there were any challenges in weathering the Fratzonic solution with puddles, road salt, and the like, Hellman said without hesitation, but without further comment: “Oh yes!”
Fratzonic for Ferrari… or Maserati?
As for whether Stellantis will be able to tune this system for a completely different type of car—like a Maserati or a Ferrari—Hellman hasn't said yet. There are some things that can go over other cars, like approach, but it's not the kind of thing that's too dangerous.
“This moment in time, it's completely developed by Dodge, it's made for this,” he emphasized.
2024 Dodge Charger Daytona
But Hellman, who ran the Challenger and Charger model lines for eight years, sees it as more than a bridge-building gimmick. “I think it's going to be one of those things, when the EV market changes, it helps you get that familiarity,” Hellman said. “Sound is an important part of Dodge and muscle cars. It's something we will continue to lean on and improve.”
“The way it looks, the way it sounds, we have created something that no one has ever done,” he said. “I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having a little bit of doubt when they heard it and saw it for themselves.”