Dodge just launched its new Charger Daytona SRT EV concept car. This electric coupe is the first eMuscle performance car from Dodge and the first to wear its new Banshee badge. Banshee denotes a 800-volt electric propulsion system complete with “Fratzonic chambered exhaust.” But is this screaming EV just an electric car with a subwoofer making engine noises?

The Banshee-powered Charger concept car

Back in the fall of 2021, Dodge announced it was canceling the Charger and the internal combustion sedan would end production by 2024. Then it began designing the perfect concept car to introduce its new eMuscle powertrain.

Stellantis unveiled the Charger Daytona SRT in August, 2022. This electric concept car features AWD and a retro two-door body. It also is making waves with its eRupt “multi-speed” manual shifter.

One interesting feature of Dodge’s electric concept car is its “Fratzonic chambered exhaust.” This system makes more noise the harder you accelerate and the faster you’re going. Dodge claims that it can make as many decibels of noise as a Hellcat V8.

What is the Fratzonic chambered exhaust?

Dodge claims that this system “delivers a performance sound that rivals the SRT Hellcat.” The company hasn’t been forthcoming with more details, but it appears to be a very loud speaker system.

The new electric Dodge Charger features a “Fratzonic chambered exhaust.” But with no internal combustion engine, what is this system exhausting from the car? The answer is likely pure noise.

The Fast Lane’s Andre Smirnov was able to see the new Charger concept in person. He reports that the only evidence of the Fratzonic exhaust system was a trumpet below the Charger’s brakelights, almost the entire width of the car. It looks similar to an exhaust exit, but it is attached to a sound-making chamber in the car.

Smirnov questioned the team at Dodge about how the Fratzonic chambered exhaust system works. He learned that it actually pushes air out of the “exhaust” trumpet to carry the vehicles performance sounds. These sounds vary depending on throttle position, car speed, and several other inputs from the vehicle’s computer.

The resulting system is capable of 126 decibels of performance-related noise. That number is not an accident, it is equal to a Hellcat motor at wide-open acceleration. Smirnov concluded, “It’s louder than any other electric vehicle I’ve ever been next to.”

EV noisemakers: tacky or terrific?

We don’t yet know everything about Dodge’s Fratzonic chambered exhaust. This is because Dodge says the system is patent-pending and so it’s still under heavy wraps. So there is a slight chance the system is more than an artificial noisemaker.

Perhaps the air going through the chambered exhaust first is cooling the car’s engines or its 800-volt battery. Perhaps part of the static electricity sounds the car produces are genuine. But just as likely, it is a speaker, a fan, and a carefully engineered sound-making chamber.

So is artificial “performance noise” in an EV tacky or awesome? Firstly, most internal combustion noises are “artificial” in that automakers could make cars nearly silent if they wanted. In the case of the Hellcat, its exhaust note is part of its appeal for many buyers. Secondly, driving should be fun and exciting and inspiring. If a “chambered exhaust” system on EVs makes it more fun, than we are all about it.

Next read how Ram’s range extender will revolutionize the EV pickup market or see The Fast Lane’s reaction to the Charger EV yourself in the video below: