It's parasitic it robs the engine of performance or lack of performance. Wish there was a way to have air con without draining the engine.

 

So, you want something ....for nothing?

 

^lol
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​​​​​​​You'd probably need to run the ac-compressor off an electric motor to achieve that. I'd be curious to see the results.

 

It's still power taken from the engine crankshaft. It'd need to be something like 2 kW electric motor, which has quite remarkable seize and weight, and it'd also require remarkably bigger alternator in order to produce that electric power. It's much less efficient than having a bigger compressor.

 

I think many modern cars do electric A/C, especially if they have start/stop or hybrid systems. The advantage there is they can use the recovered energy to run the AC while the engine is off.

 

We build the Mercedes GLE and GLS here, only the "mild" hybrid systems and up will do AC without the engine. Takes a 48V system to run the accessories on ours

 

Air conditioning? What air conditioning?

 

The AC seems more than sufficient for my desert Southwest use. The climb out of Cameron AZ up to Flagstaff is a few thousand feet of elevation change, 108 in Cameron. 90s in Flagstaff. AC worked just fine.

 

mmm that makes sense... it is a compressor after all..



i find myself turning the blue/red knob more to the middle after about 10mins at highway speeds.

 

+1
I find it really gets chilly when on the highway as well.
I attribute it to the increased airflow.

 

Mine either, I'm in Dallas TX; yesterday it was 108 F (Heat indexed)