How much power does a mobile phone charger consume when left in the plug with the switch turned on?

Posted on by Akshat Rathi

With no phone attached to the charger, it consumes about 0.5 Wh.

When a fully-charged phone is attached to the charger, it consumes about 1 Wh.

When a partially-charged phone is attached to the charger (aka when the phone is charging), it wastes about 4.5 Wh as heat and delivers about 2.5 Wh to the phone.

Source

PS: 1000 Wh costs about 10 pence in the UK and is equivalent to 0.52 kg CO2e.

Published by Akshat Rathi

Akshat Rathi is a senior reporter for Bloomberg News. He has previously worked at Quartz, The Economist and The Conversation. His writing has appeared in Nature, The Guardian and The Hindu. He has a PhD in chemistry from Oxford University and a BTech in chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai.

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