Does anybody know if driving with the air conditioner on eats more gas? I always feel bad when I turn on my air conditioner on a hot day, because of course that's when you see all that nasty smog in the air.
For sure air conditioner requires some power to run the compressor, and all power is generated by the gas you put in your tank!!! So ... hell yea.
Yes. The energy to run the air conditioner compressor has to come from somewhere. In my car the difference seems to be about 0.2l/hour, according to the on-board computer.
OTOH, driving with the windows open also uses more gas (more drag) and I think the difference is larger.
Of course, driving with the windows up and no air conditioner on a hot day is probably dangerous.
This was tested on Discovery channel Myth Busters episode...2 identical SUV's one running Aircon, the other driving with open windows. The SUV with the open windows did way better ...no contest
Thank you. I also heard about the windows opened causing drag and eating more gas, that' s why I was wondering............
Don't believe everything you see on TV. Myth Busters isn't 100% scientific. I'm not convinced unless they actually drain the gas tanks from the bottom to make them as close to empty as possible. The used a hand pump! It would be impossible to get out ALL of the gas that way. More gas could have remained in one of the trucks over the other one.
Also the trucks were't brand new. They didn't have the same mileage on them. If one truck had a dirty air filter and the other truck a clean one, than the whole experiment and all of it's results are bogus.
East-
"Air conditioners can use about 10 per cent extra fuel when operating. However, at speeds of over 80 km/h, use of air conditioning is better for fuel consumption than an open window." Source:
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