In fact it significantly cuts your highway mileage all the time it s installed whether there s weight up there or not.
Van roof rack mpg.
Adding an empty roof rack to a vehicle can drop the gas mileage by about 7 percent.
Berkeley lab says that roof racks cause as much as a 25 percent loss in fuel economy and accounted for almost 1 percent of national consumption in 2015.
199 cubic feet of cargo space.
Feature story julie chao 510 486 6491 april 25 2016.
5 6 l 100 km approx.
A ladder rack for your van may also be an accessory you ll want to consider especially if your van of choice is a sprinter or other high roof van.
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.
The roof rack mpg experiment 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.
6 0 l 100 km approx.
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.
Roof racks a drag on fuel economy berkeley lab study finds roof racks responsible for almost 1 percent of national fuel consumption.
39 mpg thus the cargo box on the roof increased fuel consumption by about 5 compared to the baseline.
Service maintenance vans city vans 1.
One thing to consider is that roof racks add wind noise and make the van less aerodynamic which can reduce gas mileage so keep that in mind.
A drop of 7 percent may not sound like much but it adds up over time.
The gear with the most impact were the dual mountain bikes strapped to the roof which impacted the fuel economy by 31 percent or 9 mpg.
Adding any rooftop carrier cargo box or ski rack doesn t come free.
42 mpg roof rack with thule dynamic 800 aerodynamic cargo box.
5 9 l 100 km approx.
This means that adding an empty roof rack to a car that usually gets 35 mpg will drop the gas mileage to 32 5 mpg.