Apparently more and more electric cars are being produced without the option of AM radio. Carmakers say that electric cars generate more electromagnetic interference than ICE cars, which disrupts AM radio reception (FM radio signals are more resistant to this type of problem). Rather than produce a feature which frustrates customers, carmakers such as Audi, Porsche, BMW, Tesla, Volvo and Ford have dropped AM radio.
That being said, you can’t get past the fact that over-the-air radio is a dying industry. I haven’t listened to a radio station in my car – or anywhere else – in probably 5 years. With streaming and podcasts so easy to use, with the breadth of content out there, and with our phones never leaving our sides, dialing up a station on the radio is something which is fading away. And as with anything, the future will be dictated by the youth of today. My kids may know what a radio is, but using one isn’t something they could ever envision doing.
Car manufacturers are creatures of profit – if radio was an important feature, they would engineer a solution to keep AM radio inside their EVs. But it is much easier to let a feature fade away when no one cares enough to protest.