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A close look at Tesla Model 3’s new roof rack with efficiency test

Tesla finally launched a roof rack for Model 3 a month ago and some owners are starting to get some use out of it.

Here’s a close look at the Tesla Model 3’s new roof rack with an efficiency test.

With Model 3’s glass roof, there wasn’t a clear way to safely install a roof rack to transport things like bikes or skis.

That said, we knew it was possible since Tesla designed one for the Model S with a glass roof and a Model 3 prototype was spotted with a roof rack back in 2017.

More than a year later, Tesla is now finally launching the roof rack as a $450 aftermarket product on its shop website – though it has sold out twice already.

But a Model 3 owner going by Kootenay EV Family on Youtube managed to get one and he gave us a close look at the new product and the installation process in a video:

The video is a bit long, but it does go into great details about the entire installation process of the Model 3 roof rack.

Here are some shortcuts:

  • 0:00 – 3:34: background on the rack, ordering, delivery time
  • 3:35 – 9:24: unboxing, checking size of key components
  • 9:25 – 27:00: installing the rack on the car (various closeups of key part installs)
  • 27:00 – 30:11: installing the Yakima roof box (includes commentary on spacing considerations)
  • 30:12 – 32:38: final thoughts

In another video, Kootenay also did some efficiency tests to calculate the impact of the roof rack:

The results are interesting. The roof rack itself (test #2) seems to have a negligible impact on the range compared to having nothing on the roof (test #3).

But the efficiency is more significantly affected when adding a ski box onto the roof rack (test #1):

Overall, the Model 3 still remains quite efficient even with stock on the roof rack.

Tesla says that it has a load rating of 150lbs and it’s compatible with many attachments such as ski racks, bike racks and cargo boxes.

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