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Can you say what type of air condition makes a petrol/diesel engine more efficient? Cold air, warm, damp, dry - all variables that might affect fuel consumption but I never hear any mention of it. I can well imagine that an all-electric car might be affected by excessive humidity or extreme cold.
Asked on 10 September 2011 by PW, Colne
Answered by
Honest John
In the winter my FIAT 500 1.2 petrol does 48 - 49mpg. In the summer in dry weather it does 55 - 56mpg. This sort of difference has been experienced by readers with diesel cars too. Yes, cold will affect the battery range of an electric car, and using the electric heater (no heat from the engine) reduces its range by about 50%.
Tags:
fuel economy
winter
Real MPG enables you to register the fuel economy you are actually getting against your make and model of car, its engine and type of transmission.
Every time you enter an average consumption figure against your car, the overall average automatically adjusts to reflect it.
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