Electric F-150’s Slide-Out Front Trunk (Frunk) Revealed in New Patent

First Look at the Electric Ford F-150's Frunk

As shown in a patent application, the upcoming truck's front trunk will have two separate compartments and can be accessed without opening the hood.

• Ford has filed a patent application for the electric F-150's front trunk with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
• The frunk, which has two separate compartments, can be accessed without opening the hood; the patent illustrations show it can be reached by opening up the grille.
• Ford hasn't released specs for its first all-electric pickup yet; it's expected to make its debut sometime in 2021.

Extra cargo space in the front, where the internal-combustion engine is traditionally located, is one of the many benefits of having a fully electric powertrain. We're used to electric cars having frunks, but we've yet to use one in a pickup truck. However, an application filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has given us the first look at Ford's upcoming all-electric F-150 pickup's front trunk.



The electric F-150's frunk will be accessible without even opening the hood. The extra cargo space can be accessed by opening up the front grille. It appears to be well lit, and there are two bins that can slide in and out of the front trunk. The front bin, however, can flip out to the right side, granting access to the rear bin, and lights on the side illuminate the area around it.



As for the electric F-150's capabilities, Ford has yet to share specs or details about the electric pickup. It did, however, pull off a stunt in July in which a prototype F-150 EV towed a one million-pound train filled with 42 F-150 pickups.

Ford's first fully electric pickup truck will likely make its debut sometime in 2021, and depending on the timing, it could be the first electric pickup we see here in the U.S. That's only in doubt because of the number of other electric pickups in development, including from startups Rivian and Bollinger, and of course the Tesla Cybertruck. The race for the electric pickup is on, and soon afterward, we're sure, will come the competition for which one has the best frunk.

The slide out ability seems pretty useful but are we going to start seeing people with skis, lumber or other objects protruding from the frunk with the grille down?

Smart that you can open the grille. I always thought the frunk is too high on electric truck to be functional but this is a good solution.

I'm curious whether it will be a pass-though design like the Bollinger. Their B1 & B2 also have the flip open grill.

I guess that means no closed grille design for the BEV model?

Sunburn said:

I guess that means no closed grille design for the BEV model?

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Hope so. Closed or faux grilles look strange even on a smaller EV, can you imagine how weird it'd look on a huge front end like the F-150's.

Cultran said:

I'm curious whether it will be a pass-though design like the Bollinger. Their B1 & B2 also have the flip open grill.

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If the patent drawings are accurate then I think not. They seem like self contained compartments with lighting along the edges so it would not be possible to open up the wall of the compartment to allow storage of longer objects. The Bollinger is also completely stripped down and not designed with comfort in mind. Ford can't do that with the F-150 and the seating and structural bulkheads won't allow for a pass-through design like that. I like the idea but it has too many compromises to comfort. It looks like Ford came up with a nice compromise if this is executed properly.

Peter P said:

Hope so. Closed or faux grilles look strange even on a smaller EV, can you imagine how weird it'd look on a huge front end like the F-150's.

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What is the point of an open grille if it doesn't provide cooling to the engine and not a vehicle that really needs it for aerodynamic reasons? Just aesthetic reasons? While it may appeal to more legacy F-150 owners and traditional truck buyers I am not sure that is who Ford is going to sell the BEV F150 to.

Cool use of the EV F150's frunk. Sounds like it operates like refrigerator's bottom freezer drawer