How much fuel is consumed when sleeping in a car with the air conditioning on for one hour?
2 Answers
Running the air conditioning in a car consumes approximately 6-8 cents worth of fuel per hour, with a fuel consumption of 1-2 liters. Below are the relevant details: From the perspective of the car's air conditioning configuration: It is mainly divided into manual and automatic types. Generally, manual air conditioning systems are equipped with fixed-capacity compressors, where adjusting the air volume does not affect the compressor. When the air conditioning cooling is turned on: The compressor operates at full speed continuously, so the higher the air volume, the greater the electricity consumption, and theoretically, the fuel consumption will also be slightly higher. Adjusting the temperature in manual air conditioning: It merely mixes varying amounts of hot air into the cold air. In practical use, the interior temperature rarely reaches conditions that would allow the compressor to stop running.
Sleeping in the car with the air conditioning on for an hour actually consumes fuel depending on the car's displacement and the size of the AC. If you're driving a small-displacement car, like a 1.5-liter compact, idling for an hour will burn roughly 0.6 to 1 liter of fuel. I've tested this with several cars—the AC compressor requires the engine to run, so even though the engine is at low RPM, it's still working, wasting fuel. I remember one summer when a friend's car burned nearly 3 liters overnight just from idling with the AC on, which was quite wasteful. Besides fuel consumption, the temperature setting also makes a difference. For example, running the AC at its coldest setting increases the load and might raise fuel consumption by around 0.2 liters. Generally, a small car consumes about 0.8 liters per hour, but I really don’t recommend doing this—carbon monoxide buildup in parking areas can be deadly.
