Air Conditioning Impact on EV Range || Twin Tech

Electric cars, here's how much air conditioning consumes. The ADAC test

How much does air conditioning really affect the consumption of an electric car? With the arrival of the summer season, we often return to talk about the impact of air conditioning on the autonomy of BEVs . In fact, we know very well how this topic has given rise to various fake news such as the one that would see BEVs quickly run out of energy in the event of a traffic jam.

To clarify the real impact of air conditioning on the range of electric cars, ADAC conducted a simulation at the Technology Center in Landsberg am Lech.

THE TEST
The test simulated an 8-hour traffic jam to analyze the behavior of an electric car in extreme conditions. To do this , a Tesla Model Y Long Range was used , which was brought into a climate chamber where it is possible to simulate temperatures between minus 20 degrees and plus 40 degrees.

In this specific case, the engineers simulated a typical summer day for eight hours , with temperatures reaching 35 degrees using UV lamps capable of replicating solar rays.

At the start of the test, the test vehicle had a battery charge level of 60% . The air conditioning was set to a constant 20 degrees, and the Model Y was in Camp mode to ensure constant climate control. Using UV lamps, the dashboard reached temperatures between 30 and 45 degrees, while the windshield reached temperatures above 60 degrees.

Despite these high temperatures, the air conditioning kept the interior temperature consistently below 25 degrees, measured at head height and in the foot area. And what about energy consumption? According to the test results, the air conditioning consistently required a power of about 1.5 kW with small differences when the intensity of the UV lamps changed or when the doors were opened.

During the 8-hour test, the Tesla Model Y consumed about 12 kWh of energy , equivalent to a loss of 16% of the battery charge. Therefore, during the 8 hours the car consumed about 2% of the battery charge every hour .

ADAC then makes a comparison stating that under these conditions, a car with an internal combustion engine would have consumed between 1 and 1.5 liters of fuel per hour, obviously emitting polluting emissions. Therefore, in 8 hours you would consume 8-12 liters of fuel.

So, as ADAC points out, the test shows that there is no need to worry if you get stuck in traffic for hours in the summer with the air conditioning on. The only precaution is to start with a sufficient battery charge level to face the journey without worries.