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Summary
Everything that requires power in your vehicle uses gas.
A car charger draws around 4.5 Watts.
While the charger is drawing this much power, you’ll get about 0.03 MPG less from your car.
Justin Dunio / How-To Geek
Is that charging having an impact on your gas mileage?
It’s common knowledge that running the air conditioning in your vehicle has a negative impact on MPG.
That’s whyit’s better to initiate the windowsat certain speeds.
People don’t typically think of charging electronics in the same way, but should we?
Related:Which Uses More Gas: Open Windows or AC?
Where Does the Power Come From?
Everything that happens in your car uses a little bit of that energy.
Charging your phone when the car is off will take power from the car’s battery.
When the car is running, the car battery is kept charged by the alternator.
The alternator gets its power from gas.
Related:How Does an EV Battery’s Charge Compare to a Tank of Gas?
How Much Gas Does Charging My Phone Use?
We know that charging a phone in the car (while driving) uses gas, but how much?
You’ll be happy to know it’s an almost insignificant amount.
According to a report fromBloomberg, an average car charger draws about 5V at 900mA.
That comes out to 4.5 Watts.
The impact isn’t going to be the same for every vehicle.
That being said, according to the report, a typical car charger eats about 0.03 miles per gallon.
Let’s say your car gets around 32 MPG.
That’s the moral of the story.
Yes, charging your phone does require gas, and that does have an impact on your gas mileage.
