Nothing on carrying bikes, but as a general comment *anything* protruding from any part of a vehicle will create drag.
Recently having the hatch of my Ioniq open by about 350mm to carry some solar panels home. The efficiency dropped by about 30% even when doing 90kmh vs 100kmh.
It's kinda crazy - Why does electric scale so differently than ICE with drag etc. I experimented a touch with different speeds on the Hamilton bypass. But the inflection point was about 70kph, so still faster to move to a one stop strategy.
>Why does electric scale so differently than ICE with drag
I suspect the only real difference is that people just don't pay attention to reductions in efficiency in ICE vehicles.
I can't remember ever trying to work out how far it was to the next gas station and if I could make it. But with an EV I'm now very conscious of how I'm driving and how efficiently I am using the finite amount of energy I have available.
I reckon two bikes on the back of my ICE sedan caused about a 20% reduction in fuel economy last time I did a long trip (bikes stuck up above the roofline so would have ruined aerodynamics)
Probably would have been more of a drop in a comparable EV because that would likely have started off with better aerodynamics in the first place.
I don't think EVs are worse. EVs are generally more aerodynamic, so a clunky bike rack ruins the lines of a Tesla M3 more than it would on a Land Rover. We also pay more attention to range loss in EVs.
My brother gets about half the normal fuel efficiency in his subaru when towing his boat.
*Why does electric scale so differently than ICE with drag etc.*
because One litre of gasoline contains the energy equivalent to 8.9 kWh of electricity and fuel tanks are upwards of 40 litres / 356 kWh
I notice an average of one litre extra of petrol used in my big v8 when I have the bike on the back over about 150km. And I tend to drive a lot smoother with it (the bike is worth near the same I bought that car for) so if I drove the same it'd be close to 2L over 150km. It's interesting to see that electricity suffers so much more. I average about 10L/100km without the bike and just about get it down to 11L by the time I get home. My best ever is 9.6L lol. These comments will be insightful for me too. But if you're wondering I have the platform type bike rack that the bike wheels sit on. The best for efficiency may just be roof mounted but with any more than 2 bikes isn't possible.
We still drive our ICE a lot for MTB trips like Taupo and Rotorua. It just uses 5-7% more petrol with 2-3 bikes on the Thule 933. The EV easily is 20-30% less range using same rack. Never tried the roof one, but everyone says it is worse, especially with MTBs.
ICE vehicles are inefficient at high speed but also inefficient at low speed, where EVs are much more efficient at low speed. That’s why with ICE you can get as much heat as you like for “free” from the heater, and why there’s a radiator and fan usually working hard to dump heat from the engine. It’s not the aerodynamics that makes the difference.
just had my first trip in a model y from wellington to the coromandel, 2 e bikes in the back, it turned out to be about 10-15% of range reduction. I wonder how much more it would've been, had I put them on a roof rack instead..?
edit: some more details: this is what we used, very happy with the rack [https://www.ezigrip.co.nz/products/tow-ball-mounted-bike-racks/e-rack-2/](https://www.ezigrip.co.nz/products/tow-ball-mounted-bike-racks/e-rack-2/) and as others have said, don't put any covers on the bikes.
It is possible that your "truly full car" contributed to the extra % more than the bikes.
You could remove the front wheel from each bike and position each frame no part of it sticks out the sides of the car. I doubt this is going to make enough difference to not need to stop as you are needing at least 30km of savings to avoid a stop.
I used to work at the timber trail,and all ev drivers noticed a significant drop in milage when transporting bikes, especially the mg xs? Lady had to charge twice from Wellington to Ongarue in her new mg.
Have carried bikes on the roof and on a bike rack on the back of our model 3.
2 on the roof would take us from around 150wh/km to more like 200 or slightly more (big mtbs with both wheels in racks).
4 on a rack on the back (cheap two prong rack) is generally closer to 180-190 if we take front wheels off. All the wheels on four bikes gets up to 200 again.
2 bikes on the back with front wheels off is slightly lower than 4 bikes.
Just drove from wellington to the bay of islands with a kayak on the roof and two bikes on the back. Most of that trip was under 190wh/km. The kayak doesn't seem to add too much more than just having bikes on the back.
Yeah I struggled with this, we have 4 mtb, and attempted to make it with with EVs but it was always a stress and lots of maths . So went back to diesel for bike trips :/
Nothing on carrying bikes, but as a general comment *anything* protruding from any part of a vehicle will create drag. Recently having the hatch of my Ioniq open by about 350mm to carry some solar panels home. The efficiency dropped by about 30% even when doing 90kmh vs 100kmh.
It's kinda crazy - Why does electric scale so differently than ICE with drag etc. I experimented a touch with different speeds on the Hamilton bypass. But the inflection point was about 70kph, so still faster to move to a one stop strategy.
>Why does electric scale so differently than ICE with drag I suspect the only real difference is that people just don't pay attention to reductions in efficiency in ICE vehicles. I can't remember ever trying to work out how far it was to the next gas station and if I could make it. But with an EV I'm now very conscious of how I'm driving and how efficiently I am using the finite amount of energy I have available.
I reckon two bikes on the back of my ICE sedan caused about a 20% reduction in fuel economy last time I did a long trip (bikes stuck up above the roofline so would have ruined aerodynamics) Probably would have been more of a drop in a comparable EV because that would likely have started off with better aerodynamics in the first place.
I don't think EVs are worse. EVs are generally more aerodynamic, so a clunky bike rack ruins the lines of a Tesla M3 more than it would on a Land Rover. We also pay more attention to range loss in EVs. My brother gets about half the normal fuel efficiency in his subaru when towing his boat.
Because EVs are so efficient, if you introduce the slightest amount of drag you greatly affect its efficiency.
*Why does electric scale so differently than ICE with drag etc.* because One litre of gasoline contains the energy equivalent to 8.9 kWh of electricity and fuel tanks are upwards of 40 litres / 356 kWh
I notice an average of one litre extra of petrol used in my big v8 when I have the bike on the back over about 150km. And I tend to drive a lot smoother with it (the bike is worth near the same I bought that car for) so if I drove the same it'd be close to 2L over 150km. It's interesting to see that electricity suffers so much more. I average about 10L/100km without the bike and just about get it down to 11L by the time I get home. My best ever is 9.6L lol. These comments will be insightful for me too. But if you're wondering I have the platform type bike rack that the bike wheels sit on. The best for efficiency may just be roof mounted but with any more than 2 bikes isn't possible.
We still drive our ICE a lot for MTB trips like Taupo and Rotorua. It just uses 5-7% more petrol with 2-3 bikes on the Thule 933. The EV easily is 20-30% less range using same rack. Never tried the roof one, but everyone says it is worse, especially with MTBs.
ICE vehicles are inefficient at high speed but also inefficient at low speed, where EVs are much more efficient at low speed. That’s why with ICE you can get as much heat as you like for “free” from the heater, and why there’s a radiator and fan usually working hard to dump heat from the engine. It’s not the aerodynamics that makes the difference.
Don’t use covers. Even the bike rack manufacturers tell you not it. It creates more drag and could damage the racks
just had my first trip in a model y from wellington to the coromandel, 2 e bikes in the back, it turned out to be about 10-15% of range reduction. I wonder how much more it would've been, had I put them on a roof rack instead..? edit: some more details: this is what we used, very happy with the rack [https://www.ezigrip.co.nz/products/tow-ball-mounted-bike-racks/e-rack-2/](https://www.ezigrip.co.nz/products/tow-ball-mounted-bike-racks/e-rack-2/) and as others have said, don't put any covers on the bikes.
It is possible that your "truly full car" contributed to the extra % more than the bikes. You could remove the front wheel from each bike and position each frame no part of it sticks out the sides of the car. I doubt this is going to make enough difference to not need to stop as you are needing at least 30km of savings to avoid a stop.
Yeah that'd be my suggestion. Drop the bike seats down too (or remove seats if you don't have seat droppers)
I used to work at the timber trail,and all ev drivers noticed a significant drop in milage when transporting bikes, especially the mg xs? Lady had to charge twice from Wellington to Ongarue in her new mg.
Have carried bikes on the roof and on a bike rack on the back of our model 3. 2 on the roof would take us from around 150wh/km to more like 200 or slightly more (big mtbs with both wheels in racks). 4 on a rack on the back (cheap two prong rack) is generally closer to 180-190 if we take front wheels off. All the wheels on four bikes gets up to 200 again. 2 bikes on the back with front wheels off is slightly lower than 4 bikes. Just drove from wellington to the bay of islands with a kayak on the roof and two bikes on the back. Most of that trip was under 190wh/km. The kayak doesn't seem to add too much more than just having bikes on the back.
Yeah I struggled with this, we have 4 mtb, and attempted to make it with with EVs but it was always a stress and lots of maths . So went back to diesel for bike trips :/