A popular bill will force car companies to put AM radios in vehicles at no extra charge, despite decreasing interest from drivers and potential electromagnetic interference.
The problem is AM radios in electric vehicles. AM radio picks up interference from electricity, as most people who listen to AM radio and have driven under high power lines already know.
Not just EVs. When I drove a 2003 Civic Hybrid AM radio was worthless there too. So its:
Hybrids
Plugin Hybrids
BEVs
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles too?
So anything but ICE. So all the cars that offer any kind of better environmental impact that full ICE have trouble with AM. I don’t think AM is worth it for that.
If the justification is that AM radio is useful in emergency scenarios, the sound quality is largely irrelevant. As long as you can make out instructions and warnings that might be given after a disaster (such as “Avoid area A due to flooding”, “Heated shelter available at schools”), then it’s serving its point. Whether it’s good for music or talk shows isn’t the point here.
It’s also the fact that if everyone stops using AM, the RFI pollution from EVs and other tech will balloon even more than it already has. Those frequencies are used for a lot more than just emergencies. I’d bet the push for this came from the military or the FCC.
If the justification is that AM radio is useful in emergency scenarios, the sound quality is largely irrelevant.
Then the electric motor was running on my Civic hybrid (accelerating or braking), the only thing you’d hear on any AM station was “BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”. Not a single word spoken or note of music was intelligible.
AM would work okay when the car was not driving. If lawmakers want to legislate a radio that only works when the car isn’t moving, I suppose they can. It just doesn’t seem very useful to me.
Not just EVs. When I drove a 2003 Civic Hybrid AM radio was worthless there too. So its:
So anything but ICE. So all the cars that offer any kind of better environmental impact that full ICE have trouble with AM. I don’t think AM is worth it for that.
If the justification is that AM radio is useful in emergency scenarios, the sound quality is largely irrelevant. As long as you can make out instructions and warnings that might be given after a disaster (such as “Avoid area A due to flooding”, “Heated shelter available at schools”), then it’s serving its point. Whether it’s good for music or talk shows isn’t the point here.
It’s also the fact that if everyone stops using AM, the RFI pollution from EVs and other tech will balloon even more than it already has. Those frequencies are used for a lot more than just emergencies. I’d bet the push for this came from the military or the FCC.
Then the electric motor was running on my Civic hybrid (accelerating or braking), the only thing you’d hear on any AM station was “BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”. Not a single word spoken or note of music was intelligible.
AM would work okay when the car was not driving. If lawmakers want to legislate a radio that only works when the car isn’t moving, I suppose they can. It just doesn’t seem very useful to me.