Volvo XC40 Forum banner

Efficiency With Roof Box and Bike Rack

12K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  1moreRobot  
#1 ·
I’m planning a trip from the UK to northern Spain in my C40 dressed in this rig (Thule Roofbox and 2 e-bikes on a rack):



I wanted to know the impact on efficiency so did a little ABA test today. I tracked efficiency and average speed on a 33 mile round trip section of the M40 north of Oxford. Conditions were a chilly 13c with a 6mph wind coming out of the north-east.

I couldn’t control for traffic but to the best of my ability tried to maintain a constant 70 mph. With turn around the average speed on both trips was 67mph so I didn’t do too badly.

On the first trip (unburdened) I averaged 35.7 kWh/100 miles.

On the second (with bikes and Roofbox), I averaged 42.8 kWh/100 miles.

That’s a penalty of 20% which is about what I had expected. Will use that in ABRP for planning purposes.
 
Discussion starter · #3 ·
Great info! I’ll be watching to see what the long range impact is on the trip, particularly as you head into warmer climates.

Are those Thule rack feet directly from Thule, or are they the Volvo dealer supplied roof racks? Thule’s site (at least for the US) doesn’t list any available parts for the C40, and I didn’t think the Volvo version was branded with Thule, even though it appears they’re made by them.

If those are Thule parts, do you mind sharing the part numbers for the foot pack?
On Thule's UK website it is Kit 145313