EV motors have an interference problem that causes the AM band to shift away from the EV dashboard. 5G radios could be the solution.
Are radios an endangered next generation electric vehicle? The AM band is particularly sensitive to electrical interference, which is one of the reasons the BMW i3 electric car refused to turn it on in 2014. Tesla apparently dropped AM for the Model S around 2018, and current Teslas don’t offer it. The Mercedes-Benz EQS EV doesn’t have regular AM broadcasts, and Volvo and Audi make electric vehicles that don’t. The interference problem is likely to get worse as motors get larger motors.
For most of the last 100 years, “car entertainment” (if your car has an “R&H”, i.e. radio and heater) was only available through one option – full AM radio. FM became an option in the 1960s and then went a long way with additional eight-track, cassette, CD and telephone music.
According to Eric Rhoads, chairman of Streamline Publishing, which reports on the industry through Radio Ink, radio listeners have dropped by a few percent recently. Obviously, quite a lot of radio is being listened to in cars today, but Rhodes says that hasn’t stopped car companies from predicting that AM and FM radio will eventually disappear from car dashboards. The demise of radio has been expected many times, but even today, 86% of respondents to a Jacobs Media survey said they listen to radio for at least an hour a day (on any device).
Automotive companies are considering deep hex radios for the same reasons they ditch CD players—it costs money and takes up valuable real estate and resources on digital dashboards.
The interference problem is real. According to the Consumer Guide, electric motors in electric vehicles “tend to produce electromagnetic interference to AM radio stations…rapid voltage fluctuations can cause high-level, low-frequency electromagnetic interference to radio stations. Electric vehicle motors generate electromagnetic frequencies that exactly match the wavelength Comparable to AM radio signals… Porsche, for example, suggests that this interference can cause static and crackle. Other automakers are pointing out possible audio issues such as distortion, hum and signal degradation.”
BMW product and technology spokesman Alexander Shmuk said that BMW does not offer AM in i4, iX and i7 electric vehicles. “We offer FM, HD Radio, Sirius XM Satellite, as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. If a customer wants to listen to an AM radio station, he or she can listen to it through a service like TuneIn and listen to it through Apple CarPlay or Android Auto through your car speaker system Plug in and play directly,” Schmak said.
However, some automakers are applying additive manufacturing to electric vehicles, including the Ford Mustang Mach-E and several GM vehicles (Chevrolet Bolt EUV, Hummer EV).
The Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck has AM, but it’s fading, said Emma Bergg, Ford EV spokeswoman. “While we have AM on our electric car, it is actually being removed for the Lightning. Most AM stations are actually available through streaming services. “Amplitude modulation” – the definition of AM in this case – is what we need to get rid of in -150 Lightning. The frequencies used in AM radio are generally directly affected by the electromagnetic noise in an electric vehicle’s power plant. Establishing additive manufacturing in electric vehicles requires additional investment and quality suffers.”
Overall, however, AM remains more popular among US automakers – in part because it still has an audience in the US. AM radio is in decline in Europe and is being replaced by DAB digital format.
One solution to the problem of interference is access to terrestrial radio stations via 5G signals in most new cars, a niche occupied by TuneIn, a global radio aggregator and streaming service that delivers music to 75 million monthly viewers, news, sports and podcast users. .
In an interview with Autoweek, TuneIn CEO Rich Stern said the service includes 100,000 radio stations, as well as oddities like audio from Jeopardy and other TV shows. It’s a way for TV sports fans who don’t pay for the privilege of getting game coverage. “Radio is still a very dynamic medium,” Stern said. “The average listener listens 4.5 hours a day, which makes Netflix different.”
Radio has always been limited by the range of the transmitted signal – “within the range of my voice.” But with Tunein, that barrier disappears—you can listen to country music at a station in Nashville or hip-hop in Detroit. AM also has audio limitations (one of the reasons music is now rarely offered), but removing it from broadcast platforms eliminates static and fidelity issues.
TuneIn takes a tiered approach similar to services like Spotify: free with ads, limited ads for a one-time fee, and no ads with a premium subscription (which also includes live MLB and NHL games). Automakers working with TuneIn include Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Stellantis, Rivian, Lucid and Tesla. The last three specialized in electric vehicles, but now every automaker offers them. The addition of TuneIn does not necessarily mean giving up normal broadcast reception.
According to Lucid spokesman Dave Buchko, “We don’t use TuneIn as a replacement for radio stations. All Lucid Air in North America have AM and FM. We have the TuneIn app and IHeartRadio as other streaming options. We also have Spotify and Tidal. We recently also announced a partnership with SiriusXM, which we will be adding soon via an over-the-air update. Experience Methods.
TuneIn’s goal, says Stern, is to “elevate radios to be as global and smart as satellites. At TuneIn, we believe in the long tail.” Designed for a large tablet-style infotainment screen, TuneIn’s interface allows users to search by genre, country, and language. The platform is ad-driven, but Stern said all non-commercial broadcasts are provided as a public service.
Do music artists make money from TuneIn? Yes, just like paying a music publisher with a regular radio station. “The good news is that we’re relying on a radio model that’s been around for a century,” Stern said.
There are other radio station aggregators where individual stations offer downloadable apps that allow you to tune in anytime, anywhere. Free Radio Player Live for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge gives you access to hundreds of radio stations with music, sports, news and talk. Radio.net is another website. AM radio is also available over the Internet and HD FM simulcast.
“To survive, AM must think digitally,” said Adam Jacobson, editor-in-chief of the Radio and Television Business Report.
Stern said his father-in-law, Joel Stern, had been looking for his Great American Songbook show at WMOR with an app in Provincetown, Massachusetts, for a long time. Rely on local audiences. “When he discovered that his audience was spread all over the world, his whole point of view changed,” Stern said.
TuneIn’s source of income is advertising. In 2020, the company turned to Google and its Ad Manager Audio for programmatic advertising.
If you don’t have an AM radio in your car, do you miss it? Enough to pay for a subscription to a streaming service? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Post time: Jan-03-2023