MAX Update No. 86: How Headlights Affect MPG

Reader Contribution by Staff
Published on December 26, 2011
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Here’s another goofy graphic, fraught with symbolism; no, MAX’s headlights don’t have a fuel tank of their own, I’m just trying to make a point.

As one approaches three-digit fuel mileage–100 mpg and above–little things start making a big difference. Things you’d never notice in a 20 mpg car are spectacular in MAX.

For example, I have a switch on the dashboard that I could label, “More than 100 mpg” in the middle position, and “Less than 100 mpg” in the top and bottom positions. Or I could just label it “Headlights.”

Up is high beam, down is low beam, center is no beam.

The better your mileage, the greater (worse, actually) the effects of your electrical auxiliaries. Your headlights, your heater fan, even your radio, they all consume fuel (via the added engine power to drive the alternator harder to produce the extra amps) at a fairly steady rate…when they’re on, that is.

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