The 12V socket in your car was designed to heat up a cigarette lighter, and has gotten a new life as a 12-volt accessory socket. But if you’re absolutely certain that you’ll never use your cigarette lighter as a cigarette lighter, or even as a 12V socket, you can actually use that space for a whole new purpose: housing a dedicated USB port.

Before you go down that road, it’s important to consider all of your options first. Since car cigarette lighters are also universal 12V outlets that can be used to power everything from a cell phone to a tire pump, you may be giving up more than you gain, even if you don’t use the outlet now.

While it’s true that the accessory sockets found in virtually all modern cars and trucks started out as cigarette lighters, they’re increasingly being used for other purposes. Some cars even come without a cigarette lighter at all, instead incorporating some sort of safety plug. Other vehicles have a single cigarette lighter socket and then multiple 12V accessory sockets that won’t even accept cigarette lighters.

The urge to ditch your cigarette lighter, given that you don’t smoke and don’t allow smoking in your car, is certainly understandable. But first, it’s important to note that a cigarette lighter socket can power many different types of devices, and that’s functionality you lose when you replace it with something like USB.