There’s always a penalty for having additional weight on a car, and not just from a performance point of view. A study in the US shows that consumers in the country burned an extra 378 million litres (100 million gallons) of fuel last year because of an extra item on the car.
The culprit? Roof racks, according to research carried out by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). A study conducted by researcher Alan Meier, working with Yuche Chen of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, estimated the fuel consumption penalty of this popular and fast-growing vehicle add-on.
They found that in 2015, roof racks were responsible for 0.8% of light-duty vehicle fuel consumption in the country, translating to around 100 million gallons, or almost one percent of the national fuel consumption. That figure is going to climb, the study adds. The usage of roof racks in the US is expected to go up by 200% by 2040.
Use of roof racks requires vehicles to expend more energy due to aerodynamic drag – depending on the configuration, the fuel consumption penalty can be up to 25% on passenger cars. The authors say that the additional fuel consumption caused by roof racks is about six times larger than anticipated fuel savings from fuel cell vehicles and 40% of anticipated fuel savings from EV vehicles in 2040.
The study said there were ways to mitigate the effects. For example, roof racks with greatly improved aerodynamics will help, and a policy to require energy labelling of roof racks could spur greater changes, the researchers note. Even greater energy savings would come from making easier to remove roof racks, so they can be stored when not in use.
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Y de duck put proton pic in this thread? Vomitted my pankreas out!
Y not? The article talking about roof rack and the P1 HAS a roof rack. If no likey Y not donate ur car for the pic instead?
US talk cock about environmental pollution. They should ban these racks first.
I drive Alza. I have biggest Thule roof rack to put my fishing gear, foldable bicycle, tent, golf bag, futsal shoes, tennis racket and bowling balls. I wear a cap when I drive my Alza.
So dun complain why get bad FC. Oh wait, P2 owners malu to say their cars memang bad FC alredi, but cuz want to jaga face so need to say that it has gud FC.
don’t blame US, we are no better, i see many kawan-kawan in malaysia sit in the car turn on engine doing nothing.
in a parking lot got; not in parking lot also got. turn on aircon got, no aircon turned on also got. most of the time his rook or play handphone. strange lot! we like to burn petrol almost as much as burn sampah…
They also Increase Centre of gravity. So, in the twisty bits, you’d have to slow down more. Not that anyone will go canyon carving with a thule rack on the roof
Passengers are also bad for fuel economy
Driving the car is already burning fuel, so stop driving.
Installing a Roof Rack will surely increases the vehicle fuel consumption due to the added drag and weight.
However, there are many other factors contributing to higher fuel consumption. There was a previous study indicating that a dropped in 10% of tyre pressure against the recommended value may increase fuel consumption by up to 3%. Similarly, installing tyres with a wider track with also increase fuel consumption.
Added weight will surely increase fuel consumption.
should there be a gap between roof and rack? will it help if the gap smaller or bigger beside the rack aerodynamically shape…
Yes, I also see a lot install bicycle rack. Glamour la tu. but bought bicycle ride less than 10 times, the rack is stuck there on the car roof ever since.
I used to work for Thule – The picture above was pictured with Thule roof rack system plus roof box which was very popular with big family. Admit it… a family of 6-7 people in MPV will leave little space for luggage especially balik kampung season. So the sales for these items will increase during CNY and Hari Raya. As a matter of fact, some people also install the roof rack with bike carriers to transport bicycles… all increasing the fuel consumption.
I drove a Satria while working for Thule and I had to install roof rack with one roof box and bike carriers on top of my car in order to create awareness and marketing for this brand. It affected the fuel consumption although not by large margin… largely due to the alteration in aerodynamic of the car and of course.. weight!
Since you work for Thule;
Is it just me or according to the laws of aerodynamics, the Thule box is mounted the wrong way around?? Shouldn’t the blunt bit face the front and the slopey bit face the rear?