It’s proven that using the air conditioning in a vehicle leads to an increase in fuel consumption. But there is a trick to limit this excess consumption.
In the summer, when temperatures soar, the asphalt burns, the grass turns yellow and… cars become furnaces! So we adapt… or we turn on the air conditioning. But this comfort comes at a price! To work, the air conditioning requires the power of your engine, an engine that in exchange burns more fuel to power the air conditioner. If you are at all curious, you have probably already noticed that there are two air conditioning modes in cars.
The most classic, the one that is generally used, consists of cooling the hot air coming from outside. Since the air arrives continuously, the air conditioning works without interruption, causing a significant increase in your gasoline consumption. According to figures from ADEME (National Agency for Ecological Transition), published in 2020, air conditioning causes an average increase in consumption of 2 liters for every 100 kilometers traveled in the city and 0.4 liters on the highway for the same distance. Over a 500 kilometre journey (the equivalent of a full tank for many vehicles) in an urban environment, excess consumption due to air conditioning can therefore reach 10 litres, or almost…20 euros!
The second mode is much less fuel-hungry, but you still need to know how to use it. This system, once activated, will simply renew the air inside your vehicle to cool or heat it according to your wishes. Since the quantity of air in the passenger compartment is much less than that of the outside air to be cooled continuously (mode 1), the air conditioner is then used for much less time for an identical result. Your consumption of gasoline or diesel is, however, much lower.
In addition to its economic benefit, recycling the interior air (effective provided you drive with the windows closed!) prevents polluted air and bad odours from entering the vehicle, which is not insignificant, especially when stuck in traffic jams. However, it is advisable to use it sparingly because breathing the same air for too long can have consequences on concentration and reflexes due to the inhalation of CO2 released by human respiration.
You’ve never tried it? That’s a shame, because this button allows the recycling of air in the passenger compartment and offers a much more economical air conditioning system. How to activate this mode? It is very often present on the dashboard of your car via a button with the symbol of a circular arrow in a car (or three arrows forming a circle).