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I find it funny that a side effect of ICE cars being so inefficient is that their range is much more predictable. If ~50% of your petrol turns into heat no matt
by interstice 3y ago
I find it funny that a side effect of ICE cars being so inefficient is that their range is much more predictable. If ~50% of your petrol turns into heat no matter what you do then using the AC doesn't make a lot of difference.
- ht85 3y agoI don't think they have to do with inefficiency. Predictability is there because combustion engines operate the same regardless of weather conditions. AC / energy consumption anxiety doesn't exist because of said predictability as well as your ability to refill 1000km worth of fuel in a couple minutes. The only difference if ICE were 100% efficient would be a slightly smaller gas tank.
- patrick451 3y agoI don't see how this makes any sense. An AC compressor is an extra load regardless of whether the motor is powered by gas or electricity. If it requires 10 Joules to run the AC for 1 minute, you need 20 more Joules worth of fuel. If turning on the AC didn't decrease gas mileage, then the efficiency of the engine somehow magically increased when it starts turning the compressor. This same reasoning should also apply to charging your phone, cranking the bass, etc, because that represents an additional load on the alternator which must be powered by the engine. Of course, turning on the heater in gas vs electric car is a different story, because the gas car is using the heat energy you mentioned that would otherwise be wasted.
- EdJiang 3y agoBecause the drivetrain is several times more efficient, other loads have an outsized impact on mileage. The Model 3 is rated by EPA to be 131 MPGe. So yeah -- if your drivetrain is getting 131 MPG, your A/C that consumes the same amount of power is going to have a much larger proportional impact.