An automobile auxiliary power outlet in an automobile was initially designed to power an electrically heated cigarette lighter, but became a de facto standard DC connector to supply electrical power for portable accessories used in or near an automobile directly from the vehicle's electrical system. Such include mobile phone chargers, cooling fans, portable fridges, electric air pumps, and power inverters.

A lighter is a portable device which creates a controlled flame, and can be used to ignite a variety of flammable items, such as cigarettes, butane gas, fireworks, candles, or campfires. A lighter typically consists of a metal or plastic container filled with a flammable liquid, a compressed flammable gas and in rarer cases a flammable solid i.e. rope in a trench lighter, a means of ignition to produce the flame, and some provision for extinguishing the flame or merely controlling it to such a degree that the user may extinguish it with their breath. Alternatively, a lighter can be one which uses electricity to create an electric arc utilizing the created plasma as the source of ignition or a heating element can be used in a similar vein to heat the target to its ignition temperatures, as first formally utilized by Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler to light cigars and now more commonly seen incorporated into the automobile auxiliary power outlet to ignite the target material. Different lighter fuels have different characteristics which is the main influence behind the creation and purchasing of a variety of lighter types.