Quote:
Originally Posted by awy
in terms of making the widest impact on societal transportation gas consumption, modification of the SUV to be more efficient has to be up there, but it's a bit underresearched. I think the biggest areas of gain are on the underside, and a more tapered rear shape to reduce the pressure drag on the back.
suv ride height makes the drag bigger, but maybe an active rear air tunnel that can get raised up when offroading. let's face it most suv miles are short trips around town or on highways.
the rear taper is i think getting more and more adopted but the tradeoff is in storage space and third row headspace. it won't ever be a boat tail sort of aeromod but with the viability of wagon shaped suvs in the market maybe a flatter design can be attempted.
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I think you are on to something as SUV's dominate the roads these days.
Two ways (
of many) to lower drag:
1. Lower clearance height.
2. Belly pan.
If an SUV is to be a SUV (
something with ample ride height) and not a crossover-ish Ford Mach-E or Tesla-X, then a belly pan is the solution.