Does an increase in electrical load on a car decrease fuel economy?
Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at
3:39 pm
Will driving the same car with the minimal electronics running have better fuel economy than the same car with considerably more lights added, high powered sound system, etc. ?
An increased load on the alternator WILL draw more power from the engine to drive the alternator. Any increased load on the engine will reduce your fuel mileage, so the answer to your question is YES… An increase in electrical load WILL decrease your fuel economy.
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yes, the extra load on the alternator translates to added load on the engine…
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it 's more a matter of installing a higher capacity alternator
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yes, the energy for running the electronics must come from somewhere, as per the law of conservation of energy. The energy from the fuel is turned into rotational energy in the alternator which is used to charge the battery. The electronics in the car use the energy from the battery to give you light energy, sound energy etc
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservation_of_energy
An increased load on the alternator WILL draw more power from the engine to drive the alternator. Any increased load on the engine will reduce your fuel mileage, so the answer to your question is YES… An increase in electrical load WILL decrease your fuel economy.
References :