Decrement in Range per Pound of Cargo

Has anyone tried to estimate the decrement of range per pound of cargo. For example, if I have a range of 80 miles with no load, and add 20 pounds of cargo, what might my range be?

While not specifically related to EVs, I've read that for every 100 pounds of cargo MPG can drop drop 1-2%. IMO it's one of the lower causes of poor MPG, under inflated tires and things like wind/hills effects range much more.
I carry probably 50?? pounds of tools, etc. all the time in the back of my Leaf and the few times I've removed it I don't really notice a difference in range. If it did make such a difference then were going to have to ask everyones weight when talking about range I mean people can vary anywhere from 125-275lbs(of course a wider range than that) which going off 1-2%/100 lbs could mean 1.5-3% just by the weight of the driver........
Personally I wouldn't worry about it too much but OTH you probably don't want to be carrying around 500 lbs of unneeded things either.

I know when I had my Geo Metro with the 65hp 1L 3 cyl engine, oh and the car weighed <1700 empty, I could always tell if I had a passenger by the reduced acceleration, that or when the AC kicked in, which was like throwing a brick out the window and dragging it :lol: When merging into traffic on the freeway is was mandatory to push the AC button OFF to get enough power to safely merge, with it on it would take forever to get up to speed, and that was even with a 5 speed stick, automatics were always slow and no fun to drive. Still I could get 40mpg in town and over 50 on the highway with that Geo, no batteries required

Try a test with just you, then 1 add'l person, then 2 add'l people if possible. People weight more than cargo.

I don't think you'll notice any difference for 20lbs.

Carrying 5 people about 20 miles on 35mph rural roads vs just me I noticed an increase just a bit from 5.1 to 5.2 for the same trip. Having said that in town, driving across town I see about a .3 to .4 decrease with the additional 4 people in the car with me. I think the stopping and starting hurts it a lot more with more weight as opposed to cruising at 40mph...

PianoAl said:

Has anyone tried to estimate the decrement of range per pound of cargo. For example, if I have a range of 80 miles with no load, and add 20 pounds of cargo, what might my range be?

Click to expand...

It will depend strongly on the route. Once in motion at a steady speed there's no additional energy required, except for some slight increases in drivetrain friction and rolling resistance. However, in stop and go traffic (repeated acceleration) or hills (acceleration due to gravity) the mass penalty will be more pronounced.

Nubo said:

PianoAl said:

Has anyone tried to estimate the decrement of range per pound of cargo. For example, if I have a range of 80 miles with no load, and add 20 pounds of cargo, what might my range be?

Click to expand...

It will depend strongly on the route. Once in motion at a steady speed there's no additional energy required, except for some slight increases in drivetrain friction and rolling resistance. However, in stop and go traffic (repeated acceleration) or hills (acceleration due to gravity) the mass penalty will be more pronounced.

Click to expand...

+1 as you said once in motion extra weight doesn't make such a difference, well I suppose unless your driving in very hilly conditions. It's one reason a large car can get relatively decent MPG on the road but really drops for city MPG.