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Do all the electrical accessories in modern cars increase fuel consumption?
There seems to be an ever-growing number of electrically-powered devices in cars: digital instruments, heaters, fans, air conditioners, ever more powerful sound systems, built-in TVs, flashing indicators, navigation systems etc, and heaven only knows what is powered through the cigarette lighter. Most of these take only a small amount of electricity, and some are only on for short periods, but cumulatively the power required will be significant. You never get something for nothing, so presumably the bottom line is an increase in fuel consumption - has anybody ever measured it?
Asked on 24 November 2012 by DM, Newton Abbot
Answered by
Honest John
Mazda has an answer to this in its very clever I-Eloop system that stores energy in capacitors, so when the engine automatically switches off for fuel economy, the power stored in the capacitors keeps everything running for a minute or so without affecting the battery.
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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