Does Using Your Car’s Air Conditioner Use More Gas?

Are you trying to decide how to keep yourself cool & maximize your fuel usage? Learn whether you use more gas when with your air conditioner.

Transcript:

With gas prices going up, along with the temperature, do you ever think to yourself, “Hmm, does using my vehicle’s air conditioner use that precious and costly fuel?”

For those of you who have electric vehicles, great.

You can ignore this video, or you can understand what your neighbor has to contemplate and then be able to help them out.

Hi, I’m Nancy at Kneble’s Auto Service Center.

I am sure this thought has dawned on you as you try to decipher which gas station has the best price. Before I tell you the answer, do me a favor, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Yes, it takes fuel to run your car’s air conditioning.

To give you a quick breakdown of how your air conditioner operates by energy from your alternator. The engine powers the alternator, which is powered by that expensive gasoline, if you have a gasoline engine.

Refer to my video on how a car’s air conditioning works.

Now that you know it costs money to use your vehicle’s air conditioner, you may want to be contemplating how much more you are spending using your air conditioner to stay cool, versus just putting down the windows and keeping the air conditioner off in your vehicle to save that gas.

Well, there is no cut-and-dry answer, since many variables affect the fuel consumption when using your air conditioner.

Such as number one, ambient temperature. The hotter the temperature outside and the more occupants inside, the harder the vehicle’s air conditioner needs to work to keep you cool inside that car.

Number two, how efficient is your air conditioner? Is it struggling to keep you cool? Has your air conditioner been evaluated?

We here at Kneble’s Auto offer a free AC check.

Number three, how humid is the temperature outside? Your vehicle’s air conditioner works harder since your air conditioner has to remove the moisture from the air. It doesn’t help that we have about 81% humidity here in Atlantic County.

And number four, what size and model is your vehicle? These factors determine how hard your air conditioner needs to work. The larger the cargo space, the more the air conditioner needs to work to cool it down.

So the question isn’t whether it takes more fuel to operate your air conditioning in a gasoline-powered vehicle, but rather, what can you do to help balance the fuel consumption since you know getting sweaty while driving is not acceptable?

Number one, put your windows down for the first few minutes when you start the vehicle. Do you know, lowering your windows helps release the hot air from the car, thus cooling the car a bit before starting and turning on the air conditioner so the AC doesn’t have to work so hard.

Number two, use a shade on the dash when parking in the sun so the inside of your vehicle doesn’t get so hot and make the AC work harder to cool it down.

Number three, use the vent mode when the ambient temperature isn’t so hot. Using that vent mode doesn’t use fuel.

Number four, driving a smaller vehicle is easier to cool down with the air conditioning and is more efficient on fuel.

Suppose you choose not to use your AC and you put your windows down while driving. Think twice. It takes more energy to drive with windows down, because of the drag it produces. This aerodynamic drag makes your engine work harder, hence using more fuel.

All of this concludes with you using that sweet air conditioning and accepting the car manufacturers have worked hard to ensure that your air conditioning is as efficient as possible.

As I mentioned before, if you think you have an issue, schedule an appointment with us.

Thank you for watching. For any of your car care needs, such as new tires or brakes, call us at 609 625 3286, or schedule your appointment online through our website.

We are located here at 5473 Somers Point Road in Mays Landing.

And you guessed it, next to Freddy J’s Bar & Kitchen.

See you here.