Cold-Weather Car Camping: How to Stay Warm While Sleeping in Your Car

What Are the Best Ways to Stay Warm While Car Camping in Winter?

I've been planning a car camping adventure which I may or may not get the chance to actually experience. Because I'm no longer a young whippersnapper, I've been trying to plan for every contingency. Where I live, nights seldom get that cold; however, if I happen to meander further north or hit a spate of unusually cold weather, I want to be certain I can stop somewhere like Walmart and easily prepare myself.

I needed to write a blog post here today, so I figured I might as well summarize my findings. Hopefully, I can collect some of your FEEDBACK. Also, I can use my summary as a reference if I ever do hit the road like I planned.

Tips for Car-Camping Warmth

Mostly Rely Upon Passive Warmth

Most experienced car campers say they are best served by good sleeping bags, insulated blankets, and warm clothes. An air mattress can help with insulation and comfort. They like to run the car heater for a few minutes before they go to sleep and again for a few moments right when they wake up.

Propane Heaters ARE NOT for Cars

Of course, you can buy a little propane heater like the ones people use in tents, but they aren't suggested for car camping. First, you can set things on fire with them. Secondly, they emit carbon monoxide, so you can suffocate yourself. I planned to wake up in the morning unburnt and still breathing, so I don't think a gas-powered heater is a good solution.

What About 12V Heaters?

Of course, you can buy safer 12V or even electric heaters. You won't want to risk draining your car battery though, so you probably can't run them all night. What you CAN DO is buy an extra 12V battery and a handy little adapter or inverter to allow you to power your heater and other devices devices.

You can also recharge the battery while your car is running without draining your car's battery. Otherwise, you might invest in a battery charger, even a solar one if you plan to car camp a lot.

This solution costs more money, but it's something to think about if you plan to camp in cold weather frequently or ever camp in very cold weather.

Regular Battery-Powered Heaters Don't Appear to Exist

I thought somebody would have made a little battery-powered bag warmer or something, but I couldn't find one.

Just Bring a Tent

Well, one common suggestion was just to bring a tent along. However, that won't work for car camping in urban areas very well, plus it's an extra thing to deal with. It's not a bad idea to bring a small tent along, but I'm not sure it will help in every situation.

TIP: If you plan to camp in your car, you should crack the window to avoid a lot of condensation on the inside of your windows. Some folks said they learned that the hard way after they woke up to find the inside of their car windows caked with ice, which was a pain to scrape off and caused a mess when it melted.