Electric car: How much range does the air conditioning really eat up?

A car’s air conditioning is a relatively hungry consumer – this is also the case with combustion engines. In an electric car, where every percent of the battery counts, such energy guzzlers are even more noticeable. In summer, the cooling of the interior naturally runs at full speed when driving, regardless of the drive. A recent test addressed the question: Is it worth it for drivers of electric cars to forego a comfortable temperature in the interior?

To find out, the automobile club simulated “an extremely long traffic jam on the highway.”To do this, the testers left a Tesla Model Y in the laboratory for eight hours at “steadily rising temperatures”. The base temperature was 35 degrees Celsius, and “special lamps” were used to simulate solar radiation. The air conditioning system was supposed to cool the interior of the vehicle to 20 degrees Celsius, which was checked using sensors.

Less energy consumption than a combustion engine

The effect on the range is not as great as feared:The experts determined that the Tesla consumes between 1.3 and 1.5 kilowatt hours of energy per hour.Model Y corresponds to thetwo percent battery capacity or eight kilometers of range. Even after eight hours – and that would be a gigantic traffic jam – that would only add up to twelve kilowatt hours, which corresponds to 16 percent battery charge or 64 kilometers of range.

That is entirely justifiable, says the ADAC. Not only that: The club attests that electric cars have a “clear efficiency advantage” over combustion engines, since an electric car does not have to run the engine to operate the air conditioning compressor. This not only protects the environment, but also your wallet. The ADAC calculates that a comparable combustion engine would have needed “between 1 and 1.5 liters of fuel per hour,” which equates to 10 to 15 kilowatt hours per hour.

As long as the battery is full enough before the traffic jam, electric car drivers hardly have to worry about the remaining range. If you have concerns, the club recommends turning the system off every now and then or – if the outside temperature allows it – switching to an open window. However, the latter should never be combined with running cooling – then the heat will quickly take over the interior and the air conditioning will have to increase its performance.

Air conditioning systems in electric cars comparable

The results do not applyonly for Tesla, writes the ADAC. The conclusion is: “Since the function and structure of air conditioning systems in electric cars of all brands and manufacturers work in a comparable way, the results of the Model Y should also be transferable to other electric vehicles.”