Hoopty

AM radio isn’t sexy. It’s not cutting-edge. It won’t stream your curated coffeehouse playlist, and it has the audio fidelity of a soup can duct-taped to a megaphone. But it’s reliable. It’s cheap. And during a tornado, wildfire, or alien invasion, it might be the only thing telling you where to go that isn’t TikTok.

Yet that reliability is being quietly buzzed and whined into oblivion. The culprit? Your friendly neighborhood electric vehicle — champion of the green revolution, silent assassin of analog airwaves.

And this isn’t tinfoil hat territory. This is a real, measurable electromagnetic mess.

Electric Cars Are Basically Rolling Microwave Ovens

To understand why AM radio is getting ghosted by the future, you’ve got to know a little about what’s happening under the hood (or where the hood used to be before it became a frunk).

Electric vehicles are stuffed to the brim with high-voltage systems switching on and off at insane speeds. Power inverters, DC-DC converters, wireless chargers, and high-frequency switching transistors are all working overtime to turn electricity into motion. And every time those switches flip, they emit electromagnetic interference — EMI, or more affectionately, radio’s mortal enemy.

Think of it like this: every time your EV accelerates, brakes, or so much as breathes, it’s screaming into the electromagnetic spectrum. And AM radio — operating down in the 525 to 1705 kHz band — is especially vulnerable to these harmonics. The interference gets demodulated right along with the broadcast, meaning instead of coast-to-coast talk radio, you get a symphony of “bzzt, brap, whine.”

But My Dad’s Camry Makes a Buzz Too?

Sure, internal combustion engine (ICE) cars make noise — ignition systems, alternators, and other electronics have been trashing AM reception since the ‘50s. But those noises are well-known quantities. They’re mostly narrowband, impulsive, and easy to filter. It’s why we invented resistor spark plugs and noise blankers.

EVs are a different beast. Their noise is broadband — it stretches across huge portions of the spectrum, includes high-frequency transients, and often doesn’t sound like anything traditional. That whirring wine you hear on AM while driving a Tesla? That’s not your tires. That’s your onboard power electronics holding a rave in your radio band.

Worse, EVs often don’t have the same natural shielding as older metal-bodied cars. The push for lighter weight leads to aluminum or composite panels, which don’t block EMI nearly as well as steel. Great for range. Bad for radio.

It’s So Bad Some Manufacturers Gave Up Entirely

Rather than fight this rising tide of interference with expensive shielding, filtering, and circuit design… some automakers just ditched AM altogether. BMW, Tesla, Porsche, Audi, Volvo — many have stopped including AM tuners in their EVs entirely.

The official line? “Due to potential electromagnetic interference.” The unofficial line? “Y’all weren’t listening anyway.”

It’s easy to laugh — until you realize AM is still a backbone of the Emergency Alert System in the U.S. While your phone depends on a cell tower and battery, AM broadcasts can cover hundreds of miles and run on backup generators during disasters. When the power’s out and the LTE bars are gone, AM might be the only signal still reaching you.

So naturally, lawmakers noticed. The proposed AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act aims to make AM capability mandatory in all new cars, EVs included. Which has automakers sweating — because mitigating EMI to the degree that AM radio is actually usable isn’t just expensive, it’s a whole new design challenge.

HAM Radio Operators Aren’t Thrilled Either

AM isn’t the only victim. The amateur radio community has been dealing with EV-related interference for years. HAM operators across the country have reported high-frequency bands turning into white noise hash anytime an EV rolls up nearby. Charging pads, in particular, are becoming infamous.

The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) has gone full watchdog, even opposing FCC petitions that would raise field strength limits for wireless EV chargers. Their fear? That unregulated WPT systems will dump massive interference into the HF bands HAMs use for emergency communications — and not just locally. HF bounces off the ionosphere, meaning interference in L.A. could affect a radio net in Kansas.

And while some EVs play nice — shoutout to the Chevy Bolt for having better-than-average EMI management — others are basically mobile broadband jammers. The spectrum is getting crowded. And unlike your EV, RF interference doesn’t stay in its lane.

Can This Be Fixed?

Sort of. It depends on how much effort (and money) manufacturers are willing to throw at the problem.

Mitigating EMI in a modern EV means layering up on shielding, installing smart filters, using soft-switching power electronics, and optimizing PCB layouts. You can also dither switching frequencies (spread spectrum) to lower interference peaks. But every one of those fixes adds complexity and cost.

Meanwhile, radio users can fight back with ferrite chokes, grounding straps, filtered power supplies, and antenna repositioning. It’s not hopeless, but it’s definitely annoying — and none of it addresses the source. It’s like bailing water out of your canoe while the guy in the front keeps drilling holes.

So What Happens Next?

We’re in an awkward place. EVs are the future. But that future is accidentally paving over some very useful, very analog systems — systems that still matter when everything else fails.

Right now, the auto industry and regulators are playing tug-of-war over who’s responsible. Should EVs be quieter electromagnetically, or should AM just be allowed to fade into the noise floor?

It’s not a stretch to say this is a spectrum crisis in miniature. As more high-powered electronics flood our world, preserving clean slices of RF spectrum becomes harder. Whether it’s AM, HAM, or even GPS, nothing is immune to EMI.

Maybe someday, we’ll have better filters, quieter inverters, and a vehicle that doesn’t scream “static” every time it takes a left turn. Until then, enjoy the silence — because your EV’s not broadcasting AM, but it sure as hell is transmitting.