[veloman]

Has anyone built one of those DIY "ac" units where you just fill a cooler with ice, stick a fan in the cover and circulate the air?
How well do you think that would work in a car? Would it be enough to cool it in 100 degree sunny desert highway driving? For how long?
I know a lot depends on the vehicle and windows and window tints etc.

After all this thinking of how I can use my ebike batteries to reduce electrical load and even using an auxillary ac unit powered by the batteries, I thought maybe the ice cooler idea would be a lot more efficient and cheaper!?

One problem I foresee is the humidity build up. I would expect to still need to use the car AC to dry the air up.

I want to try it out, in the hopes it could be a big help on a road trip next month. I would not pay for ice at a store, just whatever I could freeze at home or in a hotel.

Has anyone done the calculations how much electricity it takes to freeze xx liters of water and compare to the approximate 8% better mpg savings by not using the AC?

I personally would just wear an ice vest. But my wife would surely not be keen on that, nor doing it to our dogs! haha