would anyone buy an aerodynamic pickup cap?

[atx_ev]

Apparently this is a thing and the main impact of drag is actually the tail of the vehicle. Apparently tonneau covers help by about 5% but tapered caps could be 15-20%. Might be interested if slate sold one. I guess the shape of the cybertruck makes more sense.

If someone make one of these (in slate gray) that could still open to access the bed, I would pay 1K for it.

https://ecomodder.com/blog/aerocaps-for-pick-up-trucks/

Along with other mods, improved mileage from 21mpg to 30mpg in winter, and 27 to 35 in summer, with around 2mpg of that increase specifically upon replacement of the original non topper with this one.

 

[KevinRS]

Mileage gains may vary with this kind of thing.
The Slate design has been through a bunch of aero work, and there are some non-intuitive effects in play. A properly designed pickup will form a "bubble" of rotating air in the bed that can reduce drag, to the point that things like a tonneau cover, bed cap, leaving the tailgate down, etc all increase drag and reduce mileage.
An aero cap like this might work, but it might result in an increased negative pressure zone behind the tailgate increasing drag.

 

[tubes]

Looking at those things, no wonder they are not popular. Our brains are conditioned to just scream "UGLY."

 

[DinoLord]

Hard no

 

[kvermeer]

I'm interested, but I don't want it to look like a cybertruck or DIY tarp hack job!

The fastback kit has way more cargo space than those options, and is more aerodynamic than the base model or SUV kit, but costs $7000. I'd love a fastback cap of some sort.

A company called MVS built an Aero X Baja cap (for Fords) that looks pretty good, IMO:

And they have fastback versions too:

With the louvers, they're clearly aiming for detached flow. I'm not sure that's the right move for efficiency, but it looks good!

Maybe something less efficient but more usable could be built: if the rear triangles were solid but only reached halfway down the bed, they'd keep some flow from coming over the rails and impacting the inside of the tailgate. I think the off-road guys call this a "chase rack"? Something vaguely like this, but solid, maybe some lexan triangles, instead of perforated, following the stock Slate lines and keeping the flow managed further down the truck bed:

I think the MVS designs look good in large part due to the color match, the black generic versions don't look as good IMO. I wonder if this could be an advantage of getting a roll of off-the-shelf wrap instead of pre-cut panels from Slate: If you want to add a matched color accessory like a cap or tonneau cover, you can just use a little more of the roll!

I'd be fascinated to know who's providing the new colors.

 

[beatle]

"Along with other mods" is like "part of a complete breakfast." There's no way this guy got that kind of mileage improvement with a cap like that.

 

[P. Regent]

Those are not actually very good aero shapes for the Slate. I've been working though this with the assistance of Claude Opus. Having it slope all the way to the tailgate would cause the air flow to detach and become disorganized, increasing drag. An optimal aero cover for the bed of the Slate would slope down from the roof no more than 12"; a better choice is having it slope down and in 8-10" on both sides. Something like this:

Actually, this would be better - you want a sharp cutoff at the back to separate the airflow better:

 

[tubes]

I don't think most people understand how airflow and drag works. I surely don't! I did get a chance to see the wind tunnel at my engineering school in action (small, with scale down models) and it was very interesting, and many things were counter-intuitive.

If you ever get a chance to see a wind tunnel in action, check it out.

 

[P. Regent]

If someone make one of these (in slate gray) that could still open to access the bed, I would pay 1K for it.

https://ecomodder.com/blog/aerocaps-for-pick-up-trucks/

Whoa! That sent me down a rabbit hole. There's three hours of my life I'll never get back... Anyway, thanks for the link, atx_ev. I used the aerodynamic template on that website and applied it to the Slate truck bed and got this, generated by ChatGPT:

I don't think that looks too bad. Lightweight, with gas struts to lift the whole thing up as a unit, it could be pretty useful.

 

[Johnologue]

It looks like a lot of these mods were made with no regard to rear visibility at all? Seems like a bigger sacrifice in daily driving than any aero gains.
I imagine there will be room for improvement because of how many geometry constraints Slate is working with, like needing panels to have a lot of straight lines for ease of wrapping.

High speed aero is probably one of the things they're more willing to sacrifice, since long-range freeway cruising and roadtrips are probably not priorities.

 

[Luxrage]

I toyed with the idea of one for my Tracker. They sold a soft-top variant of it for Suzukis. The rear visibility is a concern for sure with a rigid one. At least in the Slate I wouldn't be worrying about rear headroom!

 

[GaRailroader]

I’m not interested in a cap, aero or otherwise, for my Slate. However, after I wear out the OEM 245/65R17s I will try to find a LRR run flat 225/75R17 to replace them with. I think this will improve efficiency plus I like the tall skinny look.