I'm happy to report that a cargo rack works great. Although I wouldn't take it offroading
With the car fully loaded with camping gear to accommodate 4 people for 2 nights this particular rack had about 5 1/2" of clearance at the very back. I had to install and load it on the road because it scraped on our driveway. There was no scraping the entire drive to the campground as well as on the gravel areas at the campground. If I were to purchase a rack of my own I would consider other models that have a bent support to raise the bed slightly.
I opted to load the rack with bulky but not particularly heavy items such as 2 adult camping chairs, 2 kid camping chairs, 2 self inflating sleeping pads, REI base camp 6 tent, plastic container with dishes, utensils and fire-starting stuff and life jackets.
As for range, I saw a round trip usage average of about 245 Wh/mi for the 100+ mile round trip, which included highway and back road speeds. Ambient temps were between 85 and 96 degrees F, A/C was set to 74 degrees F. My typical usage up to that point in July had been around 218 Wh/mi.
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