Gas prices are going up and we're all looking for a way to save on gas. One way to save on gas is to add a tonneau cover to your pickup truck. In 1997, two college students, Todd J. Ortolani and Vanwijak (Kehm) Ewosakul, from Western New England College’s Department of Mechanical Engineering wrote a paper entitled 'Improving Aerodynamic Characteristics of a Dodge Ram Pickup Truck'. They ran various experiments simulating different conditions determining what would decrease the drag on the truck and in turn, help lower the amount of gas spent to run the vehicle. What they found was that a tonneau cover helped decrease the drag on the truck and therefore, increased gas mileage. The Dodge Ram Pickup Truck they used had an average of 16 MPG prior to adding the tonneau cover. After the tonneau cover was put onto the truck, it averaged 17.8 MPG. This came out to be 7.37% gain on gas mileage. If the average person drives 12,000 miles per year, at 16 MPG, this would come out to 750 gallons of gasoline spent. If the average price of gasoline is $2.50, that comes out to $1,875 a year in gasoline costs. With a tonneau cover added to your truck, and a 7.3% savings on gas, you will save yourself $136.88 a year. In about 2 years you will have already paid for your tonneau cover with the money you've saved on gasoline.