It appears that Ford has filed a patent for a roof-mounted backup battery for an electrified vehicle, a setup which has been illustrated with the Bronco as an example, according to a filing found by the Lightning Owners forum.
According to the description by Ford on the patent application, this is for “a backup battery assembly that is removably mounted” to the EV, and the battery is configured to recharge the vehicle’s main traction battery via a cable to the vehicle’s own charging port.
The description offers an example of the battery’s use which could be for recharging the electric vehicle in locations where chargers are unavailable, such as campsites. In some instances, backup battery packs such as this could be sold as aftermarket items, or be leased and rented in other applications such as prior to an off-road expedition.
While appearing to be a novel idea for assisting in battery range, the roof-mounted configuration of the backup battery pack isn’t practical as automotive drive battery packs generally weigh several hundred kg, which brings into question the feasibility of lifting and lowering such a battery from the height of the vehicle’s roof. There is also the matter of the vehicle’s ability to carry that weight on its roof.
With Ford’s use of a Bronco in the patent filing image, could that be a hint that the automaker is working on a battery-electric version of the off-roader?
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that’s gonna seriously offset the car’s center of gravity
Hell, why not put a wireless pad ontop and the battery pack could clip on and charge like phone wireless charger?
Patent? hahahah Where got people do patent nowadays?
Just do it quietly. Silap hari bulan, middle kingdom starts selling it first and accuse you for copying.
gonna be a very HOT battery on the roof!
Betul, battery car need spare battery.
But this patent looks basic and using existing tech.
instead of a battery pack on roof, why not install a small petrol powered generator engine to re-charge the existing battery?
redah banjir kurang risiko batteri short.
Any engineer with basic understanding of Physics would tell you this is a BAD idea… top-heavy vehicle, cardinal rule #1 of car designing broken!
They can put this on the truck bed of the Ford lightning and improve stability and range at the same time