Lift and Bigger Tires Impact on Battery Range

[Doctors Do Little]

Some fuel for your fires:

I remember this. So…covered with tailgate up and without spare tire kit for best range?

 

[HTXSlate]

I remember this. So…covered with tailgate up and without spare tire kit for best range?

I too remember that episode.
I guess that’s why you don’t see the tailgate nets anymore. Replace your tail gate with this net that increases mpg.
Use to see a lot of them.

 

[AZFox]

Some fuel for your fires:

They assumed the trucks are identically fuel-efficient, which IMHO isn't a safe assumption.

Solution: Switch which truck has the tailgate down and do it again, then combine the results.

 

[KevinRS]

They assumed the trucks are identically fuel-efficient, which IMHO isn't a safe assumption.

Solution: Switch which truck has the tailgate down and do it again, then combine the results.

30 miles difference in range, on 2 identically equipped new trucks would be a lot to claim just some random variation in the truck builds. That is 5% change in range, with the same speeds, identical weight, acceleration controlled by cruise, etc.
Manufacturers do test their own designs, including full scale wind tunnels. Everything to the curve of the roof is optimized, and they optimize with tailgate up, no tonneau cover, no roof rack, etc.
Manufacturers already knew you lose MPG with the tailgate down. Just many people didn't believe it.
Slate has optimized even more than those trucks back when that episode was filmed, I think that just about anything anyone attempts is going to fail to improve range.
The micro spoiler at the edge of the cab ... probably it aids in forming the detached vortex across a wide range of speeds. The similar one on the tailgate, probably does something similar there.

 

[jonboy108]

Ok hive mind, if the lift kit decreases mileage/range, would the lowering kit increase it?

 

[KevinRS]

Ok hive mind, if the lift kit decreases mileage/range, would the lowering kit increase it?

Quite possibly any changes you make either have negligible impact or decrease range. From what we've seen Slate threw a lot of effort into getting the best aero they could within the constraints of it looking like a traditional truck.

 

[007]

Ok hive mind, if the lift kit decreases mileage/range, would the lowering kit increase it?

Maybe. It depends on which way the wind is blowing.

 

[AZFox]

30 miles difference in range, on 2 identically equipped new trucks would be a lot to claim just some random variation in the truck builds. That is 5% change in range, with the same speeds, identical weight, acceleration controlled by cruise, etc.

I think the experiment came to the right conclusion.

I also think if both tailgates were the same, up or down, the two trucks would not go the exact same distance.

Doing the swaparoo would remove truck-to-truck variance.

The micro spoiler at the edge of the cab ... probably it aids in forming the detached vortex across a wide range of speeds. The similar one on the tailgate, probably does something similar there.

There's also an interesting feature of the bumper that I presume is there for reducing drag.

 

[Daemoch]

Normally, anything that brings you closer to the ground and minimizes your profile *should* lower your drag and lower forward pressures, so increase your MPG. This can be offset in odd ways though, like decreasing the volume of air supplying an opposing upward pressure, so it all cancels out and you're just left with more rolling resistance, so less MPG. Formula One cars can suffer from this as an example.

Keep in mind Slate is limited in some things, like mandatory bumper height. There's also realistic ground clearances to avoid most buyers scraping the bottoms on stuff and complaining.

 

[KevinRS]

I think the experiment came to the right conclusion.

I also think if both tailgates were the same, up or down, the two trucks would not go the exact same distance.

Doing the swaparoo would remove truck-to-truck variance.



There's also an interesting feature of the bumper that I presume is there for reducing drag.

While they might not go the exact same distance, the variation might be more like 5 miles, and that gets down where they might swap positions even without changing which had the tailgate up

 

[AZFox]

While they might not go the exact same distance, the variation might be more like 5 miles, and that gets down where they might swap positions even without changing which had the tailgate up

(Didn't mean to start a big discussion on this.)

You can affect an ICE vehicle's fuel efficiency by 5%, or even more, just by breaking it in differently. That's among other potential sources of efficiency variance.

Doing a swap-and-re-run would have removed vehicle-to-vehicle fuel efficiency variance and made the experiment more accurate at determining how much difference tailgate up or down makes.

 

[Daemoch]

Break-in is HUGE on ICEVs!
Ive got a friend that runs a motorcycle racing company. Big-Boy money in some of those. He dynos bikes all the time. At one point he was testing 3 'identical' 600cc base bikes (2003 YZF-R6) and had power figures from 89 HP to 138 HP. The OEM numbers had been 115 HP when new. The only difference was the break-in that had been done (or not done) on them.

 

[Auer]

Ok hive mind, if the lift kit decreases mileage/range, would the lowering kit increase it?

Guaranteed to increase cool factor

 

[AZFox]

I think lowering will improve aerodynamics.

That said, aerodynamics don't always work the way one would predict.

p.s.: Aerodynamics are primarily important at high speeds. They're not very important at low speeds. For that reason, I think aero-modz are not, for my purposes, worthy of concern.

 

[Doctors Do Little]

I think lowering will improve aerodynamics.

That said, aerodynamics don't always work the way one would predict.

p.s.: Aerodynamics are primarily important at high speeds. They're not very important at low speeds. For that reason, I think aero-modz are not, for my purposes, worthy of concern.

Agree. If your average speed is less than 50mph, there are a lot of mods with diminishing returns. At highway speeds, the differences are exacerbated, I’d think.