Does running my car airconditioner use up a lot of gas?

Question

Or, is it such a small amount that the cost is negligable?

Answer 1

urban myth, Use the Air. It will probably only cost you one gallon per tank at city speeds, and less than that highway. ($3-4 to stay cool.)

And before someone goes mentioning myth busters, they did not do an apples to apples comparison. They NEVER tested both vehicles under the exact same condition to see if they ran out of gas at the same time, so they had NO baseline.

Answer 2

My experience with my small car is approximately a 10% mileage reduction. My car typically gets 33-34 mpg, with A/C running all the time I'm down to 29-30mpg.

At the cost of gasoline at $3/gallon, it equates to $0.30 per gallon that I'm using for A/C.

So the question to you is, what's negligible, in my opinion 10% is not a small amount, but not worth being extremely unconfortable either.

The easiest thing to do is do your own experiement with the A/C in your vehicle.

Fill your tank.
Drive purely with out using the A/C and record mileage. Record the number of gallons used on your next fill up.
Drive only with the A/C on and record miles. Record the number of gallons used on your next fill up.

Compare the two numbers.

I've done this multiple times in my vehicle and 10% is a pretty close approximation for my specific vehicle, so does the A/C use more fuel, I'd defnitely say yes. Does it use a negligible amount will depend on your definition of negligible.

Answer 3

Not that much, but a little bit. It actually burns MORE gas to drive around with all your windows open because the air rushes into the car and causes a lot of wind resistance, so you need to burn more gas to keep at a higher speed. So if it's hot like it is today (98º near Philadelphia), don't worry about the gas and turn on the air conditioner. Only make it as cold as you need to to be comfortable though. It might feel nice to have your car at 72º, but if you can survive at 78º or 80º, then that's a better option and will burn less gas.

Answer 4

On most vehicles running the air conditioner in the summer will drop the fuel economy in town by 3 MPG or so. On the highway the difference is not as noticeable. When running the Air Conditioning Compressor in the winter (runs with the defrost) the drop in economy is much less significant because the compressor runs much less.

Answer 5

Um shakem stupid, as myth busters did do that a few years back. He need to wake up. Anyways for a real answer, is yes, as the computer will compensate fuel for the added workload of the AC to make your car feel like its running about the same. The best thing to do is your own comparisn, and see. I had, on my truck which had about 450 miles without the AC on, then with it on, I might get 375. So, I think that answered it to me.

Answer 6

depends on how you drive. If you use it a lot in town it will probably suck the gas bad. But using it on flat highway travel will not use as much although the AC unit does use more gas than not using it.

Answer 7

Myth busters did this and with the windows down it used one gallon more gas

Answer 8

I don't know about others but it sure makes a BIG difference in my gas tank. But it's 95 and i am using it!

Answer 9

Yes it does. Without using the a/c in my vehicle I get over 20 m.p.g. When using the a/c I get 19 m.p.g. or less.

Answer 10

Not as much as screwing up the aerodynamics by rolling down the windows!