Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Mythbusters AC vs Windows down.

re: Mythbusters AC vs Windows down.
azstrummer — (archived)

I've seen that episode and the test is very valid when you have a choice. Out here in the desert SW, there is none. You use A/C or you fry. The other thing to take into consideration is that generally, in most modern cars, the A/C compressor only uses a small percentage of the total horsepower since most cars have lots of extra.

For a truly efficient vehicle though, the idea is to use as little horsepower as possible while driving. That means bringing down the output and size of the propulsive system. Since A/C power requirements are pretty much a constant, it starts eating up a larger percentage of the total usage. I'll bet if Mythbusters (truly great show by the way) did the test with a hybrid, they'd find drastically different results.

Art

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