Efficiency impact with large bike on a hitch rack (results)

RickMachE

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Well it's the same rack, but not the same hitch. The Telluride has a factory hitch, and the MME has a Draw-Tite aftermarket hitch. I'll take a closer look to see what's actually moving, but a very small amount of hitch/receiver flexing would translate into a larger amount of movement in the rack arms. I also just remembered that I received this little note from e-trailer in a response when I asked about a small installation problem several weeks ago:

"The manufacturers of the hitches design them so that the frame attachment arms are made of mild steel so that they can flex. "

So I wouldn't be surprised if this may be just some flex in the hitch. Tbh, I'm probably more concerned about how to prevent this from looking like a rusty mess in a couple of years (if you live in New England, you see a lot of hitches that look terrible).
Easy to find out. Go to the back of the vehicle and push on the bike rack and see what's flexing. Is the rack bouncing around as the Mach-E bounces around? Is the rack flexing? Or is the hitch / mount points flexing?
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awp0

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I took my bike on a vacation trip and just got home yesterday. It is a road bike, so it is smaller than your bike.

I was surprised how much the efficiency was hit with the bike on the back. But I guess I should not attribute all the efficiency loss to the bike, because the car was packed full of vacation stuff, my wife and two dogs. So there was a lot of extra weight as well. (Not my wife, though! Anti-weight! ;))

Anyway, I typically get around 2.5-2.6 mi/kWh with the cruise set on 80 mph. With the cruise set on 77 mph (wife in the car), I was getting 2.2 mi/kWh. Although the weight definitely had an impact, I think most of the loss was due to the bike.

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That's very interesting. Obviously there seem to be a lot of factors contributing to efficiency, some which are easier to measure than others. Based on my (limited, so far) experiences, I would have said weight actually seemed like a pretty small factor compared to speed. Rain seemed to impact my range much more than I was expecting, but it's possible that a lot of this was from the bike, which would mean that my conclusions from the first test with the bike were incorrect. I'll keep monitoring.
 

mkhuffman

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That's very interesting. Obviously there seem to be a lot of factors contributing to efficiency, some which are easier to measure than others. Based on my (limited, so far) experiences, I would have said weight actually seemed like a pretty small factor compared to speed. Rain seemed to impact my range much more than I was expecting, but it's possible that a lot of this was from the bike, which would mean that my conclusions from the first test with the bike were incorrect. I'll keep monitoring.
I was driving faster than you were, I think. Speed has a huge impact on efficiency, and that bike drag on the back is going to make a much bigger difference at 77 than 67.
 
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awp0

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I was driving faster than you were, I think. Speed has a huge impact on efficiency, and that bike drag on the back is going to make a much bigger difference at 77 than 67.
Very good point.
 

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I placed 2 bikes like this in the truck bed, in front of the hitch, toward the front wall of the bed. I placed an old blanket between the two to prevent scratching. On the slide concept, I put a large piece of card board next to the window, then the bikes, and last the recliner. I moved the handle bars around 180 degrees to accommodate a better fit. With only the two of us camping, putting the bikes in the slide area worked perfectly. So to speak, our 5er bumper hitch bike rack had seen better days. We chose this concept over purchasing a new bike rack because they appear to wear out.
 
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mkhuffman

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mkhuffman

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The way I read that article is the results were impacted by so many other variables, it was impossible to determine the efficiency impact of his bike on the car. Also, it appears he wasn't driving very fast - obviously speed has a big impact.

If you will be rarely exceeding 50 mph, I expect a hitch mounted bike will not have a significant impact on range - probably less than 5%. But as you go faster, the impact will definitely be significant.

The best way to test is in a wind tunnel, not with driving the car. So many things impact efficiency that it is almost impossible to isolate the single cause for a measured difference, unless the difference is significant. Like when I was driving 77 mph on the highway. The impact of my bike was definitely measurable at that speed.

The wind tunnel testing done by Consumer Reports is a great yardstick, and planning for a 20% hit is reasonable. If it ends up being less, then you are good. Just have enough range considering a 20% hit and then your anxiety about getting there will be mitigated.
 
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awp0

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Just another data point for anyone interested. I did the same trip (as in my original post), but this time I drove the whole 220-mile stretch without any stops. Same hitch, rack, and bike, with maybe about 100 lbs more luggage in the car. In the original post I had stopped at 130 miles to charge, but this time I went straight through from MA to VT (I-93 and I-89). Conditions were pretty ideal, dry and mid-70's temp, without much wind that I could observe. I turned off AC and eheat altogether (but kept fan on middle setting) and climate control usage was reported at 0%. Since I wanted to do the whole drive without charging, I dropped speed a little lower and spent some time behind a truck (admittedly I don't know if this actually helps or not). My average speed was probably a few miles per hour slower than I reported the first time. Maybe 65mph? I wish the car would report avg speed in the trip calculator.

For this trip FordPass reports:
Total miles: 219.4
Energy used: 66.0 kWh
Energy efficiency: 3.3 mi/kWh
Brake score: 0% (range from regen: 0 miles)
Driving score: 90%

I believe the brake score is a bug. I was driving with one-pedal on, and I could see the reflection of the brake lights (at night) from the regen. I clearly recovered range from regen. I've never seen this at 0 before, but I'll keep an eye on it.

Overall it was a very similar efficiency as the first post. As noted elsewhere in this thread, efficiency would probably drop more steeply than normal if I drove faster (due to increased drag of the bike). But at 65mph I'm still quite satisfied with the minimal range impact from carrying the bike.
 
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RMoore

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I use a Kuat Rack with the the Torklift hitch. Mine moves slightly, side-to-side as well. It’s the rack, IMHO. The first time I used it was worse. I figured out that using the included Allen wrench to torque down the tensioning knob helped but didn’t totally eliminate the wobble. I checked the torque on all of the rack fasteners, as I didn’t assemble it, but everything seems tight. Seems like it just has a little inherent play in it.
Of course hard to say for sure, but I'm not so sure it's the rack, it could be the rack/hitch combo. I have a Kuat Sherpa 2 that I use on my Q5 and Sienna and there is no wobble in either rack. I only hand tighten--I don't use that Allen wrench that come with it. The Q5 hitch is "factory installed" (in reality I think they just do somewhere between the dock it arrived at and the dealer per my salesperson) and the one on the Sienna is from etrailer and I installed it. Of course it's also possible that like with so many things there is variability in the racks so maybe your rack would also wobble a bit in my hitches.

One thing I'm curious about since I'm considering this same combo--how much clearance do you have between the rear bumper on the MME and the rack when it's folded up, and the bike plus rack when the bike is on the slot closer to the car? From some other posts it looked tight with a different rack on the Torklift.
 
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awp0

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Of course hard to say for sure, but I'm not so sure it's the rack, it could be the rack/hitch combo. I have a Kuat Sherpa 2 that I use on my Q5 and Sienna and there is no wobble in either rack. I only hand tighten--I don't use that Allen wrench that come with it. The Q5 hitch is "factory installed" (in reality I think they just do somewhere between the dock it arrived at and the dealer per my salesperson) and the one on the Sienna is from etrailer and I installed it. Of course it's also possible that like with so many things there is variability in the racks so maybe your rack would also wobble a bit in my hitches.

One thing I'm curious about since I'm considering this same combo--how much clearance do you have between the rear bumper on the MME and the rack when it's folded up, and the bike plus rack when the bike is on the slot closer to the car? From some other posts it looked tight with a different rack on the Torklift.
In case it helps, this is the clearance with a Draw-Tite hitch and a Kuat NV 2.0 Base (which I believe has identical geometry and the non-Base version). The part of the bike that gets closest to the car is the right pedal. Mine are SPD's so they're smaller than flat pedals, but I don't think you'd have a problem with any pedals.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Efficiency impact with large bike on a hitch rack (results) IMG_1495
Ford Mustang Mach-E Efficiency impact with large bike on a hitch rack (results) IMG_1498
 

Tampamike

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Of course hard to say for sure, but I'm not so sure it's the rack, it could be the rack/hitch combo. I have a Kuat Sherpa 2 that I use on my Q5 and Sienna and there is no wobble in either rack. I only hand tighten--I don't use that Allen wrench that come with it. The Q5 hitch is "factory installed" (in reality I think they just do somewhere between the dock it arrived at and the dealer per my salesperson) and the one on the Sienna is from etrailer and I installed it. Of course it's also possible that like with so many things there is variability in the racks so maybe your rack would also wobble a bit in my hitches.

One thing I'm curious about since I'm considering this same combo--how much clearance do you have between the rear bumper on the MME and the rack when it's folded up, and the bike plus rack when the bike is on the slot closer to the car? From some other posts it looked tight with a different rack on the Torklift.
Yeah, the pedal is the only clearance issue. I just rotate it to about horizontal and then bungee it. Works fine. There’s no issue with the rack on and folded up.
 

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Is it the same hitch? the difference could be in how the rack fits into each receiver. On mine, I can move the rack from side to side a little bit and it definitely seems that the rack just moves a little. The receiver doesn’t seem to be moving, just the lateral arms of the rack.
on my last vehicle, a Colorado ZR2, my hitch mounted Yakima rack would wobble no matter how much I tightened it until figured out that I needed to wiggle the rack a little while tightening it down the last few turns. Might be worth a try if you haven’t done the same already.
 

Tampamike

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on my last vehicle, a Colorado ZR2, my hitch mounted Yakima rack would wobble no matter how much I tightened it until figured out that I needed to wiggle the rack a little while tightening it down the last few turns. Might be worth a try if you haven’t done the same already.
Is that like “ya gotta jiggle the handle”?
 

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In case it helps, this is the clearance with a Draw-Tite hitch and a Kuat NV 2.0 Base (which I believe has identical geometry and the non-Base version). The part of the bike that gets closest to the car is the right pedal. Mine are SPD's so they're smaller than flat pedals, but I don't think you'd have a problem with any pedals.

Ford Mustang Mach-E Efficiency impact with large bike on a hitch rack (results) IMG_1498
Ford Mustang Mach-E Efficiency impact with large bike on a hitch rack (results) IMG_1498
Thanks. I was thinking about the Torklift hitch so was curious about the clearance with the combination of Torklift and Kuat. The Torklift and 1UP is apparently quite tight as shown in this thread. I don't want to have to add a spacer.
 
 




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