Ford’s upcoming electric pickup is being designed to cheat the wind.
The automaker recently detailed the lengths it has gone to in order to shape the Universal Electric Vehicle’s body to lower the aerodynamic drag with features like a smooth undercarriage and a tapered roofline that directs air over the bed.
Less drag improves efficiency which reduces the size and cost of the battery required. Vehicles with internal combustion engines benefit just as much, but they don’t have the driving range per charge issue that EVs do.
The Tesla Cybertruck uses buttresses that connect the roofs to the top of the bed sides for streamlining, which combine with a tonneau cover to create a secure trunk, but they make it harder to reach into the bed. GM’s electric pickups have smaller ones, as did the original Honda Ridgeline.
A new patent issued to Ford suggests its new truck could address this challenge with the ability to transform from a conventional profile to one that makes it resemble the Cybertruck.
The Vehicle Aerodynamic Altering System And Method patent describes a feature that incorporates nested panels that deploy from the trailing edge of the cabin to create buttresses for when the vehicle is driving at high speeds.
It goes on to add a bed cover that can be raised to an angle that matches the buttresses, creating an even lower drag fastback shape. The patent notes that the system can be deployed manually or set to engage automatically at a threshold speed.
An alternate version combines a diffuser connected to the roof and a folding tonneau cover with vertical fins that emerge from the bed sides as it is raised into the fastback position, which could also serve as a lockable storage system like the Cybertruck’s “vault”.
The patent also says that the designes can be paired with any type of powertrain, but they look like they would would be most beneficial for an electrified vehicle. In fact, while Ford hasn’t released a definitive image of the new electric truck, a rendering depicting how the air flows over it includes an outline that appears to show some sort of extension coming off the rear of the cabin that could be related to one of them.
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Or not. A complex system like the ones in the patent would add substantial costs, which might not be in line with. the truck’s “affordable” positioning. However, something like them could be offered as an option, or the idea might just end up on the stack of patents that never see the light of day on a production vehicle.
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