he Dodge Charger EV does not have an exhaust; it is an electric car. It may sometimes make noises like it does, but it doesn’t, and that can make it awkward when a police officer pulls you over for allegedly creating a public nuisance with a “super loud” muffler—just as one state trooper did to a Charger EV owner named Mike earlier this summer in Minnesota.
We got in touch with Mike, who posted part of the incident on Instagram. He told us that he was driving through Stillwater, a city that has a strict noise ordinance, with a group of car enthusiasts. He stopped at an intersection, “about eight cars deep,” and when the light turned green, he said the lead car “peeled away loud as hell.”
“I was left at the stoplight with a red light,” Mike told The Drive. “I looked to my left, and there was a state trooper across the street from me. He passed me and whipped a U-turn. Came up behind me as the light turned green and followed me into a gas station and lit me up. Initiated a traffic stop.”
“The trooper stepped up and immediately told me my car’s exhaust was way too loud and was disturbing the peace,” Mike continued. “I tried telling him it’s an EV and doesn’t have an exhaust or an engine, and he stated he’s not gonna argue with me.”