The average annual high temperature in Melbourne, Florida, is around 81 degrees Fahrenheit. The average annual low temperature is close to 63 degrees. Needless to say, there are plenty of perks to living in an area that experiences year-round warm weather. You can enjoy the beach almost anytime you want to, and you never have to worry about scraping ice off your car in the morning.
Despite all the benefits of Melbourne’s cozy climate, however, it does come with a few drawbacks. One of those drawbacks relates to your car. After your vehicle has been sitting in a parking lot in the sun for a few hours, it can get hot enough inside to bake a cake. Well, perhaps not quite that hot, but certainly hot enough to make you crank up the AC to full blast.
One surprising factor that can impact just how hot your car gets inside is its color.
Why It Matters
Ready for a science lesson? White and black are not technically colors. White is a combination of all colors, while black is the absence of color. An object that is a certain color reflects only light waves of a certain length, and it absorbs all other wavelengths. For example, a red shirt will reflect red waves of light, which is why human eyes are able to see the red color.
Simply put, white is cooler than black because it doesn’t absorb any visible wavelengths of light. Black, on the other hand, absorbs all the visible wavelengths of light. Light is energy, and heat is one form of energy. Therefore, light-colored surfaces remain cooler than dark-colored ones.
Does Color Make a Big Difference?
Science aside, does color really make a difference for practical purposes? Yes, it does. And if you want to change it, you can do so in an auto body shop.
Some minds at the Berkeley Lab Environmental Energy Technologies Division used two cars, a black one and a silver one, to test how color impacts a car’s temperature and fuel efficiency. They left the two cars in the hot Sacramento, California, sun for an hour. After the hour, the silver car’s interior temperature was 10 degrees lower than the black car’s interior. This finding indicates that lighter-colored cars could get away with lower-capacity air conditioners that could help drivers save on fuel.
Another experiment, this one conducted by Autotrader, supports the idea that lighter cars are cooler cars. Autotrader left a black car and a white car in the Georgia summer sun for a few hours. The black car’s interior was a startling 17 degrees hotter than the white car’s interior. The researchers turned on the air conditioners in the vehicles, and the black car took longer to cool down.
Clearly, a car’s exterior color plays a big role in its interior temperature. But does the color of the leather upholstery make a difference? Logically, yes. The sunlight that sneaks in through the windows is going to make that black leather hot, whereas it will have less of an effect on beige or white leather.
Keep Your Car Cool Regardless of Its Color
What if a white car simply isn’t your style? If you can’t resist the enticing allure of a sports car with a shiny black exterior and a similarly dark interior, you don’t have to move out of Florida to keep yourself comfortable during the hot summer months. To beat the heat, use these tips:
- Park in a shaded area. Better yet, park in a garage. By parking in a garage, you not only battle the heat, but you also protect your car’s paint job. The covering provided by the garage will help keep corrosive saltwater air from causing premature rust on your four-wheeled baby.
- Put a sunshield in the front window. This will reflect some of the sunlight.
- Keep the windows cracked. This will help to vent the hot air that gets trapped inside your car.
- Cover your seats. Leather and vinyl can get especially hot, so cover your seats with a blanket when you’re not in the car. The blanket will get hot, but the leather underneath will stay comfortable.
- Use a solar-powered fan. Circulating the air in your car will make the interior feel cooler.
The color of your car isn’t purely a matter of taste; it can affect how your car deals with the hot Florida weather. It’s something to consider next time you buy a car. However, there are ways to keep even the darkest cars cool, so you should choose a vehicle that fits your personality and will make heads turn wherever you go.