If you turn on the air conditioning in your car in summer, you have to expect increased fuel consumption. But what about electric cars? The ADAC has determined how much range is lost by using the air conditioning.
The temperatures in the car can quickly become uncomfortable on hot summer days. Anyone who has air conditioning is probably happy – even if it increases fuel consumption.
But how does air conditioning affect the range of electric cars? The ADAC analyzed this in the test laboratory and came to the conclusion that the additional energy consumption is very moderate.
How much range does the air conditioning in electric cars extend?
For the study, the ADAC simulated an extremely long traffic jam on the motorway in its electromobility test laboratory. The test laboratory is equipped with a climate chamber in which temperatures of -20 degrees to 40 degrees Celsius can be set.
A Tesla Model Y was used to test how much energy the air conditioning system uses. The vehicle was exposed to ever-increasing temperatures in a simulated traffic jam for eight hours.
The base temperature in the test laboratory was 35 degrees Celsius. Special lamps also simulated sunlight. Meanwhile, the temperature in the vehicle was set at a constant 20 degrees.
This is how the Tesla performed in the test
While the engine of a combustion engine has to run the whole time so that the air conditioning can be supplied with energy, this is not the case with electric cars. In electric cars, the air conditioning can draw its energy directly from the battery, so the car does not have to run the whole time in a long traffic jam.
Under the conditions created in the laboratory, an internal combustion engine would consume around 1 to 1.5 litres of fuel per hour, depending on the engine size and type.
The test Tesla, on the other hand, only needed 1.3 to 1.5 kilowatt hours per hour to maintain the interior temperature in the simulated mega-traffic jam. According to the ADAC, this corresponds to around two percent of the battery capacity or eight kilometers of range.
In the eight-hour traffic jam, the Tesla would have lost a total of 16 percent of its battery charge. That equates to a range of approximately 64 kilometers.
“The ADAC test shows that electric car drivers do not have to worry about breaking down even in a traffic jam at high temperatures with the air conditioning activated,” explains Dino Silvestro, Head of Vehicle Testing at the ADAC Technology Center.
What about other models?
According to the ADAC, the actual additional consumption can of course vary. Frequent opening of the door can, for example, influence this. It also depends on how many people are in the vehicle.
In general, the test results can also be applied to other electric car models. This is because the function and structure of air conditioning systems in electric cars of all brands and manufacturers are comparable.
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Source: https://www.basicthinking.de/blog/2024/08/02/e-autos-reichweite-klimaanlage/
