Ford Files Patent for Electric F-150 Frunk
Photo: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
The 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E demonstrates that one of the advantages of going the route of EVs is the bonus storage space of a frunk. A somewhat crass-sounding portmanteau for front trunk, the frunk is an advantage of a vehicle not having to house an engine up front and is typically common with mid-engine cars. And if a patent filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last year pans out, the new fully electric Ford F-150 will have a funk all its own.
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As reported by Ford Authority, a patent was originally filed by Ford Global Technologies LLC in October 2018 for a “VEHICLE WITH FRONT TRUNK.” Per the abstract, the patent covers a vehicle with a front trunk that includes a movable grille that will slide up and bins that slide forward for easier access. The patent also calls for mounted bin lighting that makes it easier to see cargo stored in the frunk in the dark. As stated in the background, this approach would be preferable because “ease of access to this front trunk area is desirable.”
What’s most interesting in the patent is the fact that Figure 1 represents a sketch of what is clearly a Ford F-150. This would presumably be a sketch of the upcoming F-150 EV, which is likely to arrive in 2021-22 after the launch of the next-generation F-150 and the F-150 hybrid. It’s a veritable certainty that the F-150 EV will have a frunk, but it will be interesting to see if Ford’s new frunk system — a frunky system, you might even say — will become the standard.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.