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They say it's because of audio quality, but it isn't that simple:
It's easy to take for granted amenities in our cars like air conditioning and the radio, which have been standard equipment for longer than many of us have been alive. But the rise of electric vehicles is giving the auto industry the chance to rethink norms and jettison ideas that belong in the past. One of those ideas may be AM radios, which some carmakers say they won't include on future EVs, and which are already unavailable on a few. Car companies blame interference from EVs' drivetrains, but the answer isn't that simple—not by a long shot.
[....] EVs from Audi, BMW, Porsche, Tesla, and Volvo are sold without AM radios, and it's been that way for years.
[....] So are highly complex EVs incompatible with one of the oldest, simplest electronics? BMW and Volvo told me it was due to audio quality problems rooted in electromagnetic interference, of which EVs' drivetrains produce a significant amount. Cars' engines and other complex electronics have always made EM interference, but low-wattage static is relatively easy to shield against. It's not as simple with EVs that may pull hundreds of watts from their batteries
[....] But it's hard to take them at their word when EVs are built with AM radios and in no small numbers. Detroit's Three—Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis—have produced or currently make EVs that include AM radio
Can radio be an addiction? I suppose it depends on the frequency.
Will the FCC cry foul if there is interference? Only if the batter hinders the catcher after a third strike.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Sunday July 10 2022, @11:04PM (13 children)
Was not FM-radio, am-radio isnt very common in cars in Europe, getting replaced by DAB/DAB+ (Digital Audio Broadcasting)? So it has or had to be dropped eventually.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Rich on Monday July 11 2022, @12:27AM (12 children)
The AM stations are getting wound down here in Germany, and the few remaining are mostly transmitted on FM, too, so there's usually no real need to receive AM. I have an AM capable radio in a 2006 car, but I don't think I've ever used it. But I recently had an older car re-fitted with a DAB+ unit (yay for DIN radio slots!!!) and I have to say that this beats FM hands down. However people are either pissed off because their car has FM in a non-DIN format and they can't replace it, or they were early adopters of DAB, which is incompatible with DAB+. Also, there's little worth in the extra channels, because 95% of them play the same shit (80s charts) over and over to fill the gaps between their annoying advertisements.
Rather than focusing on FM, I think they should (slowly) phase that out, move the junk to DAB+ and keep AM. AM is a solid fallback when parts of the infrastructure fail. As a kid, I built a little passive AM radio: long antenna wire, coil, tuning capacitor, diode, earplug. Definitely not a lifestyle choice, but 100% availability. Giving that up is a bit like giving up the POTS for VoIP (but still charge like for POTS, to maximize profits), or, at a wider scope, outsourcing all manufacturing capacity to somewhere in Asia.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Monday July 11 2022, @01:24AM (1 child)
Can't remember the last time I used radio. It's either streaming music through my phone, or some of my massive mp3 collection. My car doesn't need to receive any signals.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 5, Insightful) by coolgopher on Monday July 11 2022, @03:24AM
The most annoying feature in my current car is its insistence on defaulting to radio if the most-recently-used media isn't found. So whenever I've had the phone plugged in for navigation, the next time I get blasted by radio static (bad), or radio ads (worse). I wish I could just disable the whole radio component, but of course the source isn't available for the head unit. Sigh.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by sjames on Monday July 11 2022, @02:32AM (2 children)
The emergency availability is absolutely on point. In addition to easy to improvise receivers (including the trench radio made from a razor blade, a pencil, and headphones), AM transmitters are pretty easy as well.
As for costs, that part of the spectrum isn't good for much else and a simple AM radio is cheap enough to be a givaway at a trade show.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 11 2022, @01:36PM (1 child)
Emergency availability... of what? Christian propaganda? I think I'd rather eat my own flesh in peace.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Monday July 11 2022, @07:10PM
In times of emergency, the Preacher is moved aside and actual useful information is broadcast.
At other times, at least he is in a radio booth where you can literally tune him out and not pestering people door to door.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Monday July 11 2022, @03:55AM (6 children)
The main problem with AM is that the audio quality is terrible. It's the whole reason FM got up in the first place all those years ago. It's going to be hard to convince people to stay with AM when it sounds so bad.
(Score: 2) by Some call me Tim on Monday July 11 2022, @04:06AM (5 children)
It really depends on the situation. If some natural or man made disaster takes down almost everything but a few AM stations, that razor blade, pencil and crystal earphones are going to sound pretty damn good. Normal life, not so much. *shrugs*.
Questioning science is how you do science!
(Score: 3, Touché) by Mykl on Monday July 11 2022, @05:13AM (4 children)
Agree, but it's a pretty narrow edge case. I doubt that the Venn diagram of Tesla owners and Survival Preppers has a large overlap.
(Score: 2) by Rich on Monday July 11 2022, @11:36AM
Well, the Cybertruck might be a sensible choice for the Mad Max III scenario, where the primary energy source is biogas generated electricity. At least as long as the batteries last. Long term choice would be a VW Golf 1 Diesel which runs on about everything that resembles oil - and also has an AM radio if it comes in original condition!
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Monday July 11 2022, @03:15PM (2 children)
That's a real shame. It's a pain in the Heineken to make your own Gasoline or Diesel, compared to charging your Tesla off a grid tie or grid independent solar array. You can save the planet and be ready for just in case too.
To go ahead and cover what you'll say next: "But what about an EMP?" Good question. We don't have data for EVs. When USGOV tested non-ev cars in a simulated EMP, all were fine after a reboot. That testing stopped in 2002.
As a prepper, I'm uncomfortable with Tesla's skynet/big brother OTA update system, but that's not unique to Tesla. It's in most major cars now. They collect enough telemetry to make Microsoft blush.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Tuesday July 12 2022, @06:07PM (1 child)
Certain vintages of Diesel car will run on old cooking oil and other such waste products.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday July 12 2022, @07:09PM
As a data point, I tried virgin cooking oil in a 95 Ford F-350 7.3 with and without preheating and the engine bogged terribly. It ran fine on biodiesel though.