This old tech could cost automakers BILLIONS

The Center for Automotive Research says it would cost the industry $3.8 billion dollars to solve interference problems in EVs to put AM radio in new cars.

It's a wonder any EVs on the road today have AM radio tuners, then! But they don't seem to happy with new legislation, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act. We dive into this spat between the radio industry, automotive manufacturers, and the US government.

Resources referenced in this video:

Contents:

00:00 - 3.8 billion dollars
01:30 - Asking a radio engineer
07:56 - AM interference (spurious emissions)
10:19 - What must be done?

[efad]

So, AM should've been possible from the outset of EVs but regulators didn't crack down on them? Why should the customer have to pay a cent to fix an issue that's been known for years and is only now being enforced?

[BryanTorok]

10 to 15 years ago I bought a cigarette lighter cell phone charger at a local battery store. When I used it in my car, I found it created interference, a high-pitched whine, in my AM radio. When I went back to the store and complained, the owner's comment was, "Who even listens to AM radio anymore?" Well, obviously I do.

[jarlrise]

My EV, (Hyundai Ionic 2019) has an AM radio (in addition to FM / DAB+), and it has the best AM reception I have heard in a long time, both stationary and when driving.
Absolutely no interference issues at all.

[TheWeakLink]

As a HAM radio operator myself, I believe we should absolutely protect and use the AM bands. I agree it’s critical for emergency communications. However, we should not be spending public money on this. It should be on the manufacturers to be compliant with existing regulations that stipulate they cannot interfere with licensed frequencies. Like anything else, if it’s not compliant with the laws then it shouldn’t be permitted for sale.

[stan.rarick]

Back in the 1970s I used to monitor an IBM mainframe computer by listening to it's "broadcast" from the floor above it with an AM radio. When it went quiet the program I was running had finished (convenient remote monitoring)

[brandonupchurch]

I haven't attempted to listen to AM radio in my house, but when I tried to setup antennas in my attic, VHF kept driving me nuts climbing in and out of the attic readjusting, until I was just about fed up with working on it, and shutoff the 100W equivalent LEDs in my garage then miraculously it started working, the amount of electrical interference switch mode supplies are allowed to emit now is absolutely ridiculous how widespread this problem is and the FCC does nothing about it.

[jimdigriz]

EVs shouldn’t be allowed to freely generate massive interference. This is already law.

[shawnbrown]

My “Analog and Digital Communication” professor said the difference between a analog and digital engineer. Is that the analog will build a transmitter on purpose.

[tommiller]

FCC & CE regulation require compliance. What happened to the EV designers when they had that course?

[goodvilhunting]

That seems like a great father-son relationship by the way. I also like that Dad Geerling still keeps multiple pens in his pocket.

[billferguson]

What I miss the most from AM radio is when I'm driving along a highway in WA and come across a sign which says "when the lights are flashing tune to AM 1610 for important information about conditions ahead.

[henrybecker]

I am firm believer or keeping AM radio in cars. With that said, there is another problem - syndicated radio stations that have no local announcers. Is the early 2000's I was driving from Boston to Northern NJ while a snow storm with predicted amounts of 9"~12" was bearing down on the area. NOT A SINGLE LOCAL AM OR FM STATION was broadcasting weather reports. Only Boston, and NYC stations were sending alerts however they were not providing information about the direction the storm was taking. I had about a half dozen routes to chose from, but no up-tp-date information that suggested the safest route to take. These syndicated radion stations (I'm not mentioning names) are useless for import5ant local news.

[FoggyMtnDrifter]

People calling AM "pointless" definitely don't realize how vital it is in rural areas. I live deep in the Appalachian mountains and AM is the only reliable broadcast option due to its range. Forget getting TV reception via antenna here, nearly impossible.

[kidjpuy]

During Hurricane Florence all of our local cell towerz, FM stations all ran out of diesel except 1 who decided to stop broadcasting to conserve fuel till the next day. At that point am was the only contract we had with the outside world.

[richarddaugherty]

Hi guys! Ham radio operator here! When it comes to emergency communications, low tech rules! AM covers more area than FM could dream of. Cell phones, as y'all point out are the first to go down... something we FINALLY got our law enforcement partners to understand. That was painful! We were doing drills where we were to shadow officers for comms and they didn't want us because they had their cell phone, not understanding that in a real emergency it's not likely to work at all. After a few real events where the system got saturated they finally got it.

I also liked your points about interference! You were right on point that manufacturers have been infringing. As hams, we're not allowed to interfere with anyone else, but everyone else can interfere with us. Solar is also a big interference origin point, as well as plasma TV's. Finding that stuff and fixing it is kind of an art form! Love your show!

[kcnmsepognln]

I'm not about to pick a fight with the statisticians at the CTA (notoriously tough eggs that they are), but I'm having a hard time believing that you can extrapolate data representative of 258 million US adults, from a survey of 800 of them.

[Brooke]

Here in Northern California where wildfires and falling tree branches cause AC power failures, those in turn cause cell sites to fail. So, don't count on a cell phone to work in an emergency.

[a]

Here in Norway all AM and FM radio stations closed down years ago replaced by digital radio that only covers cities and towns. Here where I live you can drive for 6 hours until you come to Finland that do not have digital radio and during that period you have radio cover for 10 minutes total that entire drive.

[Julie]

In the Australian bushfires in 2019, several cell phone towers were destroyed along with power and telephone lines, leaving some towns totally isolated except for AM radio. FM has a limited and somewhat line of sight range compared to AM. At this time, there is nothing better than AM radio for reliably getting a message across to may people across 100's of km.
Also, no device (including EVs) should be generating interference. Those laws have been in place for a very long time.

[BulletproofPastor]

Cellular communication and the internet, though widely used, are both vulnerable and a target for terror attack. AM radio is the backup and must be maintained. When Harvey came to the Texas Gulf Coast, I returned to my home with NO power, NO phone, NO internet, NO TV, NO Cable. As a ham operator I strung up a long wire antenna and with only 100w I was able to relay messages to my family. Sometimes "old" shouldn't be tossed aside. When high tech fails, it's hard to beat a low tech answer.