Fuel Efficiency With Roof Rack

Roof racks a drag on fuel economy by lawrence berkeley national laboratory both loaded and unloaded roof racks create drag reducing your vehicle s efficiency.

Fuel efficiency with roof rack.

Aerodynamics is the study of force and how an object moves through the air. He found that compared to the baseline of no roof rack the empty rack reduced his mpg by 12 7 and the roof rack with a bicycle reduced it by a whooping 27 3. Hitch racks by the time you get the whole family loaded up in your vehicle there s no room for all the luggage and gear. Mileage went from 41 mpg at 65 mph to 40 mpg.

Their study was published recently in the journal energy policy in a paper titled fuel consumption impacts of auto roof racks. Hitch racks or roof racks which one should you choose. That second run returned a fuel consumption of 7 06l 100km that s 0 6 litres more than our control run. He compared the gas mileage of his car at 54 7 mph 88 kph with 1 no roof racks 2 an empty roof rack and 3 a mountain bike on the roof rack.

For some people the. To find out how bike racks affect a car s fuel economy consumer reports tested a roof rack and a trailer hitch rack loaded with two adult sized bicycles on a 2019 nissan altima and a 2019 toyota. The empty roof rack had a nearly 2 percent impact on fuel economy which translates to a little more than three quarters of a gallon of gas. The more aerodynamic a car is the better the gas mileage it will have.

But that s where you ve found a dilemma. If you follow our coverage on fuel efficiency you know that real world mileage numbers don t always measure up to the official epa ratings. Next we equipped a set of roof racks and a bike carrier attachment to the roof of the forester brimmed the tank once more and set off completing the exact same run a second time. A close second was the kayak with 28 percent or a.

That s why you ve decided to invest in a cargo carrier. They found that in 2015 roof racks nationwide were responsible for 0 8 percent of light duty vehicle fuel consumption or 100 million gallons of gasoline.