Rivian Battery Tech, Ford F-150 EV Frunk, Tesla Holiday Party, and More: Electric Truck News Round Up (Week 51, 2019)

Better range in a Rivian? All-new Ford F-150 coming in 2020.

rivian truck tesla cybertruck ford f150 ev

This week bring even more electric truck news. Rivian engineering department reports details about their battery design to allow for greater efficiency and range. There yet another patent application that relates to a “frunk” on the upcoming Ford F-150 electric truck. Tesla has a holiday party with at least two Cybertrucks, a roadster, and the ATV on display.

This year has been packed full of electric truck news. We got a chance to learn a lot more details about the upcoming Rivian R1T pickup truck. Tesla unveiled the Cybertruck, and several other companies announced their electric truck plans (including General Motors and Ford).

Rivian Battery Technology

(Rivian.com)

Recent report states that Rivian is using a unique design to cool their lithium-ion battery packs that would allow for 20-25% improved energy density. This means a Rivian electric truck or SUV may be able to go 20-25% further on a battery packs than some competitor’s electric vehicles.

Rivian is still claiming (over 400 miles) of range for their R1T truck with a big 180 kWh battery pack.

Considering that a gallon of gasoline is equivalent to approximately 33 kWh of energy, a truck such as the R1T could drive for over 400 miles with energy equivalent to a 5.5 gallon fuel tank.

Rivian is also working on something called “Guardian” autonomous driving mode. It’s meant to be a fully automated driving capability to carry passengers who are unable to drive themselves: children, elderly, handicapped, and intoxicated. There is currently no date or timeline provided as to when this autonomous driving capability may come to market.

Ford F-150 EV Frunk

A recent patent application from Ford shows a vehicle that looks like an F-150 pickup truck with a front grille that folds down like a traditional tail-gate, but can also swing out to provide a small table-like surface.

The folding grille provides access to a front storage compartment (aka. frunk) that is also described to have storage bins. The patent application also shows several strips of lights that can illuminate inside the storage area or around the front of the vehicle.

Ford made an official announcement this week about a large $1.45 billion investment coming next year (2020) in order to debut and begin production of an all-new Ford F-150, an F-150 Hybrid, and the Ford Bronco. Ford said that an electric F-150 model will debut “soon after” the all-new F-150 models.

Tesla Cybertruck & Roadster

photo: @nanunlimited

We generally would not publish about a Tesla holiday party, but the company displayed two Cybertruck prototypes (a stationary display model and a running prototype). They also featured the so-called Cyberquad ATV, although no official plans for an electric Tesla ATV have been announced. The next Tesla Roadster prototype was also in attendance.

Stay tuned to TFLtruck.com for all the latest truck news, including electric and plug-in models.