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I have an Apollo brand 12 Volt Cooler/Warmer, designed to plug in to my car's 12 V cigarette lighter.

I am wondering if the power this device uses will significantly affect my car's performance or gas mileage. I have a 2010 VW Jetta 2.5 liter gasoline car.

The transformer for the 100-240 V AC connection (another option for running the device) says it is designed to output 4 A at 12 V DC. Since power = current x voltage, the transformer will output 48 W of power.

The transformer also says that it takes 60 W of power for the input.

Zaid
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NeutronStar
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1 Answers1

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You should not notice any difference. Here's why:

1 hp = 746 W. This means that 60 W is 0.08 hp.

The worst possible scenario from a load perspective is at idle. Assuming the engine is outputting a measly 5 hp at idle, the extra load would work out to 1.6 % of this value. The change in fuel consumption is barely sensible.

Zaid
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