How Much Does Turning on the Air Conditioning Affect a Car's Power?
3 Answers
Turning on the air conditioning in a car inevitably affects the vehicle's power, but it won't have an excessive impact on daily driving. Here are the details: 1. The air conditioning directly affects the engine's power output. Car air conditioning systems come in two types: independent and non-independent. Household cars typically use non-independent air conditioning, which relies directly on the engine's power. When the engine is running, it must divert some of its power to the car's air conditioning system. 2. Taking a 1.8L-powered model as an example, turning on the air conditioning can slow down the 0-100km/h acceleration time by 1-2 seconds. Data analysis across different speed ranges shows that the 0-60km/h acceleration process is less affected by the air conditioning. When driving in the city, drivers don't need to worry too much about the air conditioning's impact on the car's power. However, in the 60-100km/h acceleration range, the vehicle's power will be noticeably reduced. During daily driving, if you need to quickly overtake the car in front, temporarily turning off the air conditioning can be a simple and effective solution.
My little 1.6L car feels particularly sluggish when the AC is on, especially during city driving when starting from a stop. I have to press the accelerator deeper to get going, and it's noticeably more strained when climbing on-ramps to elevated roads. The AC compressor is directly connected to the engine crankshaft, which adds an extra load. I heard from a mechanic that for regular family cars, using the AC can reduce power by about 10%-20%, while the impact is less noticeable in larger displacement vehicles. Using ECO mode or manually downshifting can help. Another tip is not to blast the AC at full power immediately after the car has been baking in the sun—wait for the temperature to drop a bit before reducing the fan speed, which lessens the impact on performance.
When I used to drive driving school cars, I often demonstrated this phenomenon to students: at idle speed, the moment the air conditioning is turned on, the tachometer needle would noticeably drop and then bounce back. The impact of air conditioning on power is mainly concentrated in the low RPM range, especially in stop-and-go city traffic. It might not be very noticeable in large-displacement vehicles, but it's quite apparent in smaller cars with engines below 1.5L. The solution is to press the accelerator slightly half a second earlier, giving the engine a bit of preparation. The impact is much less noticeable at highway speeds, as wind resistance consumes much more energy than the air conditioning. Regularly checking the air conditioning filter is also helpful, as a dirty filter can add extra burden.
