What is a car outlet adapter?

A car outlet adapter, also commonly referred to as a vehicle power adapter, is an adapter that plugs into the DC outlet inside of a vehicle to provide more or different connections. The most common car outlet adapter splits into 2 DC outlets on the female end.

Car outlet adapters with a female end that is different from the standard DC outlet are often called inverters instead of adapters. Standard car outlet inverters convert 12V DC power to 120V AC electricity, allowing more traditional plugs to be used in a vehicle. Regardless, all of these adapters utilize the vehicle's battery as its source of power.