The biggest car news and reviews, minus the BS
Our free daily newsletter sends the stories that really matter directly to you, every weekday.
Quick: When was the last time you listened to an AM radio broadcast? OK, fine, when was the last time you did it on purpose? If you drive an EV, the answer very well might be “never.”
While that probably says more about you as a consumer (or perhaps how long you’ve actually held a driver’s license) than it does about the state of broadcast radio, the reality is that the vast majority of EV owners, whether they know it or not, are rolling around without an AM radio receiver at all. The feature is also disappearing in some ICE-powered vehicles, but it’s more commonly omitted in EVs because their powertrains produce quite a bit of electronic interference, and AM frequencies are particularly sensitive to it. But don’t worry; Congress is on the case.
“While automakers want to ditch AM frequency from EVs because of interference distorting quality, regulators use the AM frequency for emergency alerts, and the AM broadcast does not require a paid subscription for a driver to hear it,” S&P AutoIntelligence Associate Director Stephanie Brinley told us. “This has been an ongoing issue for several years; it is less about consumer interest in AM radio.”
While there are good reasons to preserve AM radio reception, the primary driver behind it—the emergency broadcast system—has become less of a priority in the age of mobile phones, and while it took the government an inappropriately (though entirely expected) long time to acknowledge that, it finally got around to passing the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System Modernization Act of 2015, which did two things:
Directed FEMA to: (1) establish common alerting and warning protocols, standards, terminology, and operating procedures for the system; (2) include in such system the capability to adapt the distribution and content of communications on the basis of geographic location, risks, and multiple communication technologies and to alert, warn, and provide equivalent information to individuals with disabilities, access and functional needs, or limited English proficiency; (3) ensure that specified training, tests, and exercises for such system are conducted and that the system is resilient, secure, and can withstand external attacks; and (4) conduct public education efforts and a general market awareness campaign about the system.
Required the system to: (1) be designed to adapt to and incorporate future technologies for communicating directly with the public, provide alerts to the largest portion of the affected population feasible, and improve the ability of remote areas to receive alerts; (2) promote local and regional public and private partnerships to enhance community preparedness and response; (3) provide redundant alert mechanisms; and (4) protect individual privacy.
That’s the long, red-tapey way of saying that we don’t need to rely on AM radio anymore, and we’re just doing so because we haven’t implemented the next thing yet—or for that matter, even bothered to define it.
But that hasn’t stopped Congress from spending years on the preliminary steps to mandate AM radio’s inclusion in new vehicles. The House’s version of the bill made it out of committee this week with “overwhelming” support, Axios reported Thursday.
For a Republican-controlled Congress to even consider new regulatory measures against an industry, there must be some serious popular support for this, right?
“It is highly unlikely a consumer would forego an EV because the AM band isn’t there,” Brinley told us, “but that misses the point of why US lawmakers are interested in maintaining the availability of the frequency even in EVs.”
stock.adobe.com www.thedrive.com
Brinley’s take was at least partially echoed by another analyst.
“We do not have any specific figures or numbers regarding consumer demand for AM radio,” Robby DeGraff, Manager, Product and Consumer Insights at AutoPacific, told us in response to our inquiry. “That being said, I don’t believe if an EV especially (or any vehicle regardless of powertrain) is not equipped with AM radio that that is a deal-breaker for a consumer.”
“While I understand the draw some may have to AM radio, and perhaps its need in an emergency broadcast system, most of today’s vehicle shoppers and owners are streaming content through their phone, tuning into satellite radio, or toggling through FM stations,” DeGraff added.
Part of it comes down to the age of the average buyer. Electrified vehicle adoption skews younger and more tech-savvy, which won’t have much overlap with the old-school AM radio crowd.
“Of course, there are demographics, especially Baby Boomer and some Gen Xers, who do listen to AM radio on a routine basis,” DeGraff said. “I don’t think the absence of it is enough to steer someone away.”
Got a tip? Let us know at tips@thedrive.com.
Byron is a contributing writer and auto reviewer with a keen eye for infrastructure, sales and regulatory stories.