Leopard680
A2OC Donor
I like to drive Alison with her headlamps on all the time.
I've always driven with headlamps on.
At work, we have been advised to do so.
Here are the findings of a friend (I did say Alison is a Diesel)
As follows:
"126k miles
7 years
60mpg
2100 gallons of petrol at 120p per litre (£5.40 per gallon) which seems to be the approximate average over the last 7 years comes to £11340.
Your 55W headlights will use 0.11kWh plus a bit for the tail lights (5W each apparently) so 0.12kWh.
Petrol contains 36kWh per gallon (if converted perfectly to evergy but the efficiency of car bengines is very poor. On average it is about 20% (Wikipedia).
According to Wikipedia, modern alternators are about 70%-80% efficient (let's call yours 70% as it's an older car) and I've read that the belt that connects the engine to the alternator is 98% efficient.
Taken together, this translates to an overall efficiency of 13.7%. So that 36kWh comes down to 4.93kWh.
Therefore, keeping your headlights on will cost an extra 2.43% in terms of fuel consumption.
So if my calculations are correct, having your headlights on all the time for the last 7 years has cost you around £276.
However, I guess around half of your driving to and from work will be at night when you will need to use your headlights! I'll assume that the majority of driving outside of your commute will be during the day when headlights aren't necessary so let's say overall 54% daytime, 46% nighttime as that makes the total "unnecessary headlights" cost a nice round £150 ? That's a fair few beers in the pub!
There are also other extra costs such as the more frequent replacement of bulbs - they are more likely to blow if on all the time (and turned on and off more often)"
Thoughts please!
???
I've always driven with headlamps on.
At work, we have been advised to do so.
Here are the findings of a friend (I did say Alison is a Diesel)
As follows:
"126k miles
7 years
60mpg
2100 gallons of petrol at 120p per litre (£5.40 per gallon) which seems to be the approximate average over the last 7 years comes to £11340.
Your 55W headlights will use 0.11kWh plus a bit for the tail lights (5W each apparently) so 0.12kWh.
Petrol contains 36kWh per gallon (if converted perfectly to evergy but the efficiency of car bengines is very poor. On average it is about 20% (Wikipedia).
According to Wikipedia, modern alternators are about 70%-80% efficient (let's call yours 70% as it's an older car) and I've read that the belt that connects the engine to the alternator is 98% efficient.
Taken together, this translates to an overall efficiency of 13.7%. So that 36kWh comes down to 4.93kWh.
Therefore, keeping your headlights on will cost an extra 2.43% in terms of fuel consumption.
So if my calculations are correct, having your headlights on all the time for the last 7 years has cost you around £276.
However, I guess around half of your driving to and from work will be at night when you will need to use your headlights! I'll assume that the majority of driving outside of your commute will be during the day when headlights aren't necessary so let's say overall 54% daytime, 46% nighttime as that makes the total "unnecessary headlights" cost a nice round £150 ? That's a fair few beers in the pub!
There are also other extra costs such as the more frequent replacement of bulbs - they are more likely to blow if on all the time (and turned on and off more often)"
Thoughts please!
???
