Anyone use the Whispbar cargo box?

[Lyon]

http://www.whispbar.com/product/gallery/wb701/

Thinking about getting one for skis and am curious about the range reduction? Anyone have any experience with them? I already have a Yakima box but it's positively HUGE and I'm concerned about how much range I'll lose.

Thanks

 

[CHG-ON]

Nice looking.

 

[tomp]

I have one. It's quite nice and much more solid than I felt the other options were. Of course, it costs a lot more too.
I took a road trip with 6 people (4 adults, 1 toddler, 1 infant). I assumed 33% more energy use than rated range, which was fairly representative of actual usage. However, the weather was fairly mild (the trip was in July but we didn't need too much A/C). If it is cold or very hot, I'd be more conservative.

 

[Lyon]

I have one. It's quite nice and much more solid than I felt the other options were. Of course, it costs a lot more too.
I took a road trip with 6 people (4 adults, 1 toddler, 1 infant). I assumed 33% more energy use than rated range, which was fairly representative of actual usage. However, the weather was fairly mild (the trip was in July but we didn't need too much A/C). If it is cold or very hot, I'd be more conservative.

Thanks for the reply. I think I'm going to go the ski rack route. Much cheaper and I can get protective bags for the bindings. They don't salt the roads in Oregon so there's less chance of rust. They do rock the roads though so there's some chance of rock damage.

 

[robby]

I have one. It's quite nice and much more solid than I felt the other options were. Of course, it costs a lot more too.
I took a road trip with 6 people (4 adults, 1 toddler, 1 infant). I assumed 33% more energy use than rated range, which was fairly representative of actual usage. However, the weather was fairly mild (the trip was in July but we didn't need too much A/C). If it is cold or very hot, I'd be more conservative.

You don't normally get rated range though, do you? Racks and an aero box shouldn't add anywhere near a 33% range hit. I have a Skybox 21 (biggest Yakima available) on Whispbars and at 65-70 MPH it only costs me ~30 extra Wh/mi (~9%) in winter conditions.

Thanks for the reply. I think I'm going to go the ski rack route. Much cheaper and I can get protective bags for the bindings. They don't salt the roads in Oregon so there's less chance of rust. They do rock the roads though so there's some chance of rock damage.

If range is your concern, why go with a rack over a box? A rack will have more drag and thus a bigger range impact.

 

[Lyon]

You don't normally get rated range in that case, do you? Racks and an aero box shouldn't add anywhere near a 33% range hit. I have a Skybox 21 on Whispbars and at 65-70 MPH it only costs me ~30 extra Wh/mi (~9%) in winter conditions.



If range is your concern, why go with a rack over a box? A rack will have more drag and thus a bigger range impact.

You put a skybox 21 on your roof!? And get what kind of usage numbers? I already own a skybox pro 16 but was worried it was too big for the Model S!

Also, is your comment about a box reducing range less than a ski rack based upon some empirical data? I've looked for such information with no avail.

 

[robby]

You put a skybox 21 on your roof!?

I do! Chris TX uses a similar box (source).

And get what kind of usage numbers?

Please take this with a grain of salt because I only got my Tesla last March and did not take close records, but my recollection is that range impact was about 30 Wh/mi from the White Mountains down to Boston. That is without any precipitation which of course would increase the resistance. This was in freezing but not subzero temperatures. I imagine range impact varies a bit based on air density in winter vs summer seasons (of course, temperature's affect on range correlates inversely and perhaps to a greater degree).

I will be using the Skybox again as early as December, and I will keep close records of my numbers and report back.

I already own a skybox pro 16 but was worried it was too big for the Model S!

Definitely not too big! I have stuffed this thing with a dozen pairs of skis, food and clothing without any issues whatsoever!

Also, is your comment about a box reducing range less than a ski rack based upon some empirical data? I've looked for such information with no avail.

Limited. Yakima advised me on this but did not have specific numbers. I found a Finnish newspaper study, whose findings are roughly translated here. These findings reflect my intuition, but I would love more to go on, so if you find better numbers or details please do share.

 

[tomp]

That's correct, I rarely get rated range. But that's how I did my calculations for the road trip, since I can see on the car what the rated range remaining was, and compare that to my estaimte, in order to know if I needed to slow down or otherwise adjust conditions to ensure we reached our destination.
I was not AT ALL trying to imply that the box induces a 33% hit to range - apologies if so. I was just saying that in my case adding the rack resulting in about 33% above rated range. Usually, I have assumed around 20-25% above rated range for a trip. I don't think I know how much extra energy the box required in terms of Wh/mi.

You don't normally get rated range though, do you? Racks and an aero box shouldn't add anywhere near a 33% range hit. I have a Skybox 21 (biggest Yakima available) on Whispbars and at 65-70 MPH it only costs me ~30 extra Wh/mi (~9%) in winter conditions.

 

[Lyon]

Installed the Skybox 16 today. It just barely fits and I did have to reprogram the rear tailgate to stop before going all the way up. No idea how much juice it uses yet.

 

[robby]

Nice! Glad you got it mounted. Keep us posted as to your Wh/mi numbers after you get some usage. I'll do the same with my Skybox 21, though I don't expect to use it much before January.

 

[Lyon]

Took a long trip today. Eugene, Oregon to Mt. Bachelor, Oregon via hwy 58 and US97. Charged in Sunriver, OR for about an hour at 240v*80A. Drove to Sisters, OR and charged at the ChadeMo there for about an hour. Drove back to Eugene via hwy 126.

Both passes were covered in packed snow. On the way over it was nasty cold for a while (1*F) and I had the roof box on the whole time.

Trip B is the total for the day.

 

[Lyon]

Also, I should add, the usage on the way over was incredibly high. This shot was taken in the parking lot at Mt. Bachelor (where they really need to get some charging equipment) and shows the usage to that point.