Nice pix and useful data. Thanks for sharing!

Would that yellow foliage be aspens? The fall foliage where we live (East Coast) can be very pretty, but I haven't seen large swaths of such bright yellow as you all have in the Rockies.'

Out of interest: You say you never carry a spare or a jack, but aren't those kind of pre-installed in the R4P?

 

Living on a mountain side 1200' above the valley, I like to keep things light, hauling extra dead weight around, up and down, is abhorrent to me! I haven't carried a spare in any vehicle for decades, even on long trips, unless it's in the boonies (no cell coverage). The jack, tire and other tools are easily removed, and easily replaced.

 

I was more referring to the tests where enormous amounts of weight (in the bed, or on the trailer) were added in the long distance tests and the efficiency differences were negligible (based on the weight added, not on the aerodynamic drag). And this was even on the ICE truck, which of course has zero regeneration.

Based on that info, even with the curb weight differences between the truck and rav4, I imagine that the weight of a 35 lb spare (at best, 1/40th of the 1500 lbs of payload added to the Silverado) in a rav4P will make absolutely zero difference in efficiency, at least based on the evidence.

 

The lost mileage with the 1500 pounds was about 5%, not really negligible. You could extrapolate this to the RAV4 that about 750 pounds would have the same 5% effect based on the rough estimate that a RAV4 is half the weight of the Silverado. This extrapolation is not really a scientific conclusion, but more of a WAG as there are plenty of variables at play that could change this. So the spare and tools might make on the order of 0.5% difference. However, over the course of 10,000 miles, that is a loss of 50 miles. I think that @ptom is saying that he would rather have those 50 "free" miles.

 

My intuitive take on it is as I'm hauling the small amount of extra weight UPHILL, it's a bit different scenario than a bit of extra weight while on level ground. Here's one way to think about it, in 100 trips, I haven't hauled an extra 4000 pounds UP the mountain! I make good use of the space the spare inhabits, and have no plans to change my no spare policy, unless boondocking. Less weight is just always better, "adding lightness" is the # 1 performance improver for small planes like I fly, and I guess the habit has just carried over to the car. In previous years, driving this same mountain with wimpier vehicles, it was a no brainer that the more crap I had on board (working pickups) meant maybe having to shift down or at the very least mash the throttle down more. The weight of a spare is minor enough not to notice any performance drop off, but has to be there nonetheless.

 

If you’re not a fan of carrying the weight of a spare, you could always consider the sealant/compressor kit we Europeans have to make do with.

TBH I have no idea how that kit fares in practice but at least it's lightweight.

 

It is indeed lightweight - in both meanings of the word .

Sealant can only help with smaller punctures in the tread area; it won't work on the sidewall, or when the hole is "too large". Also, flat tires are often accompanied by rim damage, which sealant obviously can't fix.

Since we don't know what our next flat tire event is going to look like, having a spare means you have a 99% chance of regaining control over your road trip schedule .