You are correct. My latest development is adding a box to the rear door. Both simulation and road tests confirmed the effectiveness. Before, MPG loss was about 5-8, now about 0-4 (depending on wind). The height of the cap makes no difference though, from 20" to 16".
I have done more road tests and, suggested by a friend, lots of simulation as well.
I built a very simple 3D model for Maverick in Solidworks and use Flow Simulation to get drag and lift on different configurations, such as bare bed without cover, with tonneau cover, with box cap of different...
Yeah, on one hand, 42 MPG with a camping truck is unseen in history, nothing even close; on the other hand, 9 MPG drop from 50 is quite a trade-off. Although my cap weighs only 40 lb and I can easily take it off and put it on by myself within minutes, it is still something I don't want to do...
I removed the two narrow panels on the rear door, virtually no difference, 43.3 vs. 42.5. I then uninstalled the entire rear door, the same again, 42.8 vs. 42.5. Seems the major drag is still from the protruded 4" front.
Right now the height from bed top to the cap top is 20 inches, which is adequate and about right. Before it was 24 inches, I did feel somewhat uncomfortable for too tall. I used 24x48 panels directly, so I did not have to cut anything. If I cut another 4 inches off, then the height would be 16...
There are some vents on the front sides. There are two narrow panels beside the rear large panel. I can drill some holes on these narrow panels, or simply remove them. Would it help?
While driving along the wind, I see lots of vibrations on the back panel. When against wind, no vibration at all.
After cutting off 4", i.e., now 4" higher than the cab like the ARE MX, I constantly get 42 MPG on 55 speed limit highways. The ARE MX looks far more aerodynamic than my bare square box shell, so it seems to me that aerodynamics does not help any. Or, the large flat back panel (door) dominates...
Seems to me not so easy to round up all the edges/corners. Also, it does not matter whether the cap is 4" or 8" higher than the cab. Or, the large flat back panel plays the key role here. So now the question is: round corners/ridges or a higher/taller cap, which is more important? The straight...
I went ahead and cut off 4", leaving 4" above the cab. Difference is only 1 on MPG, 41.4 vs. 42.5! What a surprise, and even more so after I added a simple wind faring - 41.9!
Hello,
I built a camper shell and lost 8.4 on MPG, from 49.8 down to 41.4, running 64 miles at 55 MPH. This is a lot more than I expected, I guess hybrid is far more sensitive on MPG. The shell is only 40 lbs, but 8 inches taller than the cab top. I wonder what if I make it 4 inches shorter...