Does having TVs, police radars, car chargers, etc affect you MPG?

Question

By car chargers, I mean for cell phones and IPods etc

Answer 1

NO!!

Answer 2

Anything that increases the load on your car's electrical system while driving will decrease fuel efficiency.  That said, the items you listed here each have a small enough power draw that their impact would be neglegible.

Answer 3

If you have your trunk and back seat full of these items... yes.

Ive done extensive research into the overall capacity of most vehicles and just how many small electronic devices can be fit into the average available cargo spaces.  According to my calculations, if you plan on carrying say... 800 pounds in car chargers and radar detectors, then YES. Yes definately youre gas mileage will suffer.

My advice to you is... carry fewer phones... then yull need to carry fewer chargers.

Answer 4

There are two ways that having these in your car can affect your mpg, neither of which is too relavent normally:

1.  The electrical draw - most of the things you mention (except for the TV) draw just a few watts.  The electrical draw from these things are less than using your radio, and you will never be able to measure a change in your MPG from them.  Even if you had a device that used 100 Watts, you could power it for for about 5 days non-stop, with one gallon of gasoline.

2.  The weight - The accepted rule of thumb is that for every extra 100 lbs in the car, your mpg suffers about 2%.  So for a car normally getting 25 mpg, the effect from an extra 100 lbs means that you will now get 24.5 mpg.  You will have to determine the weight of these devices for yourself, but I bet they are WAY less than 100 lbs.