My Jaw Dropped When I Saw How Much My Truck’s MPG Improved WITH a Bed Tonneau Cover vs WITHOUT!
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Published 2022-12-20
( www.allTFL.com/ ) Check out our new spot to find ALL our TFLstudios content, from news to videos and our podcasts! We drive our Ram 1500 work truck with and without a tonneau cover to see the real-world difference. Tonneau Cover MPG Myth Busted: These Savings Blew My Mind!
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All Comments (21)
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30 years ago when I was new product manager at Warn Industries we ran extensive instrumented tests with and without tonneau covers and got pretty close to the same results as you did. This validates your "real world " testing methods. Good job. FYI we also got a similar improvement with a roof level bed cap.
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My tonneau made my truck much more usable for my family. Not sure about the MPG gain, but worth the investment for sure.
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I remember a similar test where they determined that replacing the tail gate with a net hurts fuel economy (when people buy them specifically to improve mpg). The takeaway was that with the lift gate, you get a pocket of air in the rear making a constant circle, and the airflow over the top of the truck is improved. That doesn't have anything to do with tonneau covers other than to illustrate that aerodynamics is not always what we think they are.
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I remember my Dad doing this with his old 4x4 Silverado long bed with the 350. He picked up a folding hard tonneau cover, programmer, and even bought lighter wheels. But his result was about the same. He saw a couple more MPG with the cover and the wheels and computer maybe added 1mpg. Manufacturers really do have these things optimized out of the box pretty well.
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I bought my cover to keep the weather out than better MPG.
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I applaud Nathan for holding back after Andre mentioned stiff and soft covers lol
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When Andre was talking about which cover was best, the stiff one, I just knew Nathan was going to mention something about the stiff stubby. Yeah, my tonneau cover is worth it even if I lost a few MPGs just in the utility of being able to lock stuff in my bed mostly secure.
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I gained just over 1 mpg on my Tundra and its so nice being able to put items in the bed out of the elements. They definitely are worth the investment and will pay for themselves over time.
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I like my hard shell cover because it is lockable and you can carry things on top. Thanks for sharing.
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So happy to see Nathan back in these videos. So much talent in that Stubby truck…
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Installed a hard aluminum GMC option tonneau cover on my 04 GMC in 06. Never garaged and 12 miles from Atlantic shoreline. Keeps stuff in the bed somewhat safe from weather, and probably helps fuel consumption. At 50 plus mph, when I have a cartop carrier on the cab, the vortex coming off the cab lifts the tonneau up about six inches. Truck has 200k on it now.
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I do a 146 mile loop to/from work. I see a 1.7 mpg increase on my 2021 Colorado extended cab with the soft roll up tonneau cover.
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I remember seeing a video somewhere that actually explained the inverse. The cover actually hindered aerodynamics because the empty bed creates a vortex of wind that essentially pushes the air back up as it comes over the cab and reduces drag. I don’t know the physics behind it but the video I watched did explain it.
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This is my first year with a tonneau cover, an aluminum hard folding cover on a 2021 4WD Ford Ranger. I've used fiberglass caps on all my trucks for nearly 35 years and have always gained about 10%, over factory-estimated MPG, year round, driving 30K miles a year in summer and winter in New England driving. The new tonneau cover will have to wait for a full report. So far, so good, thus far.
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Good to see Nathan in this video, as I was starting to wonder when he would be featured again. Great video that demonstrated the aerodynamic effectiveness of the tonneau cover.
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1.6mpg is significant, but you could gain 3-5mpg minimum on pretty much any vehicle just by slow starting and driving 5mph slower.
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If the improvement could be measured in actual mpg testing and there was a 1mpg improvement then every truck would come standard with one. Yet another flaw in the testing that allows the highway mpg test to average 48 mph... The best thing I did for mpg was I stopped driving 10 mph over the limit everywhere I went. Those 10 mph cost almost 4 mpg.
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P.S. We also did a little testing with the tailgate up and down or removed. Leaving the tailgate up was measurably better. My only qualifier is that they pay a lot more attention to aerodynamic efficiency today than they did 30 years ago so your results may vary.
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I appreciate the production quality on such a simple idea. You guys do it over the top. 🤙
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I stand like a proud dad watching what you gents have taken TFLT from and turned it into. Congrats.
