The enormous energy consumption of a WiFi router compared to an electric car
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Electric cars consume a lot of electricity. This is also the reason why they have large batteries on board. Often you know what you pay for a charging session. But did you also know that there are devices that can use up a full battery unnoticed? In this article we compare the energy consumption of a WiFi router and other devices with an electric car.
Our colleagues from Manners wrote about the standby consumption of devices last weekend. Some plug-in products use a lot more than you think.
The charging of an electric car compared to the consumption of a WiFi router
To get an idea of how much energy a particular device wastes unnoticed, let’s compare its consumption with an electric car. This is charged per kWh. In this case, we compare the consumption with an electric vehicle equipped with a 75 kWh battery pack. This is a large battery found in cars like the Ford Mustang Mach-E.
For the electricity price we take into account 0.46 cents per kWh. Of course, this differs from your personal situation.
If you charge at home with the electric car mentioned above, you have to pay 34.50 euros. About as much as you pay per year for a WiFi router for electricity. It is best to switch off your PC and Smart TV completely after use. If you do this, you can save around 280 kWh per year. That’s almost four times what you can charge your electric car with!
Device | Standby consumption per year | energy costs per year |
How often does an electric car need to be charged? |
---|---|---|---|
personal computer | 150kWh | €69 | 2 |
Smart TV | 130kWh | €59.8 | 1.73 |
WLAN router | 80kWh | €36.8 | 1.07 |
Boiling water faucet | 80kWh | €36.8 | 1.07 |
satellite receivers | 60kWh | €27.6 | 0.8 |
sound system | 40kWh | €18.4 | 0.53 |
coffee machine | 40kWh | €18.4 | 0.53 |
printers/scanners | 28kWh | €12.88 | 0.37 |
Playstation/Xbox | 12kWh | €5.52 | 0.16 |
Laptop | 8kWh | €3.68 | 0.11 |
phone charger | 2kWh | €0.92 | 0.03 |
Source: Auto visie

I’m Jamie Bowen, a dedicated and passionate news writer for 24 News Reporters. My specialty is covering the automotive industry, but I also enjoy writing about a wide range of other topics such as business and politics. I believe in providing my readers with accurate information while entertaining them with engaging content.