I think it’s safe to say we’re in a Golden Age of Frunks. This is not the first frunk golden age – that era was back in the late 1950s and into the 1960s, when the world was awash in fantastic frunks like in the VWs Beetle, Karmann Ghia, and Type 3s, Fiats 500, 600, and 850, Hillman Imps, Skoda MB1000s, Zaporozetses, Renault 4CVs and Dauphines and R8s and R10s, Tatra 603s, Hino Contessas, and many more. The rise of transverse-engined FWD cars in the 1970s and on soon made frunks a rarity, but now, thanks to electric cars built on skateboard-like chassis, frunks are coming back.
With this resurgence of front trunks comes a certain amount of competition between the makers of electric cars for who can produce the best frunk. I think the current frunk font-runner (frunk frunner) may have to be the Ford F-150 Lightning’s Mega Power Frunk, despite that silly name Ford applied to it.
Ford’s frunk is pretty impressive, with plenty of room and multiple power outlets:
But that’s a huge truck overall; it’s easy to put a huge frunk in something that scale. But what about a somewhat smaller passenger SUV? Who is truly bringing an exceptional frunk game to this arena?
Well, thanks to longtime Autopian contributor and Chinese car expert Tycho de Feijter, I think I now have to admit there’s a new Top Frunk in the world, and it’s Chinese:
More on the frunk of the Onvo L90
Onvo is a Chinese electric car brand owned by NIO. The Onvo L90 is a new electric SUV. Onvo talks a lot about the frunk, and so will I.
On Onvo's Chinese website, about 90% of all the content is about the frunk. What is all the frunky fuzz… pic.twitter.com/05kP0K9aFc
— Tycho de Feijter (@TychodeFeijter) April 30, 2025
Yes, the Onvo L90! What I think sets the L90 apart from all the other befrunk’d EVs out there is that Onvo really seems to give a well-crafted shit about frunks, going so far as to create videos and other media contact just about the frunk. Look at this:
…and look at this fantastic knock-to-open functionality:
That’s a hell of a frunk! Sure, it doesn’t have the power outlets of the F-150 lightning, but for a vehicle the size of the L90, this is cavernous (about 8.4 cubic feet!), and the car even lowers the front suspension so you can load all your crap in easier!
What kind of crap, you may be asking? Well, according to the promo videos, a cantaloupe, placed carefully at the center of the frunk with no container, is a key part of the load:
Onvo also shows how the frunk can be used for seating, which sort of makes me wonder why we never really saw this sort of thing for conventional rear trunks.
The Onvo L90 is only the second car to be released under the Onvo brand, which is a sub-brand of Nio and shares Nio’s NT3.0 EV platform. The RWD model makes 455 horsepower, and the dual-motor AWD version makes an impressive 590 hp. Not too shabby.
I think the bumper-level-opening hood, the car’s ability to lower the trunk down to 23 inches (600mm) from the ground, and a pretty vast load space all conspire to make this frunk the frunk to beat.
Your move, motherfrunkers.
It it’s an absolute travesty that previous frunk kings Volkswagen don’t even offer them in their evs, they’ve strayed so far it’s an embarrassment.
I just think of all the lightnings we have seen where the frunk motors don’t seem to want to work. and then the few that have fully lost the 12V battery that is hidden behind the Frunk and the inside release does nothing.
I would kind of like to go the other rout and move cabs forward and increase storage in the back, but that is just me I suppose. I like the weird styling of the old Van trucks of the 60’s
Well moving cabs forward makes it harder to pass crash tests
Then you’ll love the Tello truck.
I am not sold on it, but if I were to have to choose it over say the slate truck with a frunk, and the price was similar, I would take the Telo Pickup.
I think the hot ticket for the slate will be the 2 door SUV version. it will not be attainable for under 30K I will bet, but at least the 2 door stripper pickup will let them claim a starting price in the 20’s(maybe), I think that is the best looking option. And low and behold it leaves room for a Frunk.
I see the frunk full of groceries, and I imagine a front end collision and a comic explosion of milk, eggs, and produce.
Imagine this crashing into fruit cart during a movie car chase
The fact that you omitted ‘Muria’s foremost contribution to the frunk is a travesty and embarrassment to the Autopian! The Corvair had one of the, if not the, most voluminous frunks of that first golden age. Just look at this cavernous cavity of cargo space!
You’re letting your Naderite-bias befuddle your brain! Frunk you and the Dauphine you rode in on!
My first thought was how the Corvair (either generation) absolutely thumps the size of this frunk.
In the UK we call them Froots…
J/K 😉
That’s clearly bullshit but it’s a great name! As an antipodean who refers to the boot by its proper name, I will be using this term going forward. Who knows – maybe scoring a root in the froot will enter the Australian lexicon!
You heard it here first my upside down friend 🙂 Let me know how you get on with the froot rooting 🙂
So does that make froot mounted spare tires (as in an old VW Beetle) Froot Loops?
I’ll see myself out.
Don’t you go anywhere, That was brilliant 🙂
How did that not get COTD?!
But much like MANY others in the Chinese EV market, how long will Onvo last as a brand? I’ve read several articles about Chinese folks being screwed as they go buy their brand new EV and within a year or two the company doesn’t even exist anymore and there is 0 support…
Nio is definitely one of the more established startups, as they were about the first and were kinda China’s Tesla in some ways. This year is very important for them to achieve profitability, as newer startups have already done so; Nio has had a lot of mismanagement in the past and spends a lot on stuff they don’t really need to so there’s definitely potential for costs to be cut. If they don’t make it it won’t be super surprising but it would be quite a big deal, not an inevitability.
Almost 240 litres! That’s wild. That’s a lot bigger than my car’s conventional rear boot, which only has about 170 litres.
Corvairs had 280+ liter “frunks” and were pretty small cars. The classic American large sedan had a stupidly large boot/trunk. The last of the breed was the Ford Crown Victoria (production ended in 2012). This thing had a 583 liter boot/trunk. Taxis and police loved it because it could swallow any and everything.
Sometimes leading to comedy gold.
https://youtu.be/RiQbcI7c3SY
More than four and a half metres long is not “pretty small” in my book …
It’s that rear overhang.
Go to carsized.com. You can compare a 2025 Polo to a 1960 Corvair 4 door.
Width. Polo +4.9 cm
Height: Polo +14.3 cm
Length: Corvair +49.8 cm
Wheelbase (had to look it up) Corvair +18.3 cm
The Corvair has a LOT of rear overhang because of the 2.4-2.7L engine sitting behind the rear axles. In photographs it looks a lot larger than it is because we are used to seeing much taller cars.
By European standards of the time, the Corvair would be considered a larger car. By standards of today, a normal to fairly small car. By American standards of the day, the Corvair was a small car. By standards of today, a tiny one.
I feel like these could totally alter tailgating. The size and shape seem natural for a drop in kitchen insert. Of course this does mean backing into a parking space, but it would be worth it
8.4 cubic feet…? A cube of feet? Wth, mate.
At least include actual measurements alongside the silly joke Americans use.
8.2 ft^3 is 237862cc, or 237.862 litres, or 0.237862m^3.
I bet converting cubic feet to cubic inches or cubic yards is a nightmare compared to just moving the decimal point like with metric units.
Converting anything to anything is a nightmare in freedom units. I do not understand why we have not converted to the cult of the metric
Honestly, it’s because the things that already exist were built to increments of feet and inches.
NYSDOT tried to force conversion from imperial to metric a while back, however instead of doing the hard work of having everything built to even metric units (say to the closest m, cm, etc.) they simply converted all of their standards to metric, which meant instead of something being 1′-6″ long, it would be 152.4mm. Basically, there was zero value to actually using the metric system, unless literally everyone took their existing formwork, equipment, etc. and threw it in the trash. Not shockingly, after a number of years the effort was canned.
It’s a lot more work than just buying a bunch of new tape measures, unfortunately.
Many countries did that in the decades past. If there’s a will there’s a way.
Yeah, never going to happen here of course.
You know what? The US has been using SI units since at least the mid-1800s, exclusively. Earlier than Britain, for example. They are just using weird multiples. All the customary (they are not imperial; the imperial units are different) US units are legally defined as multiples of SI (“metric”) units. All of them.
I’m aware, but the rest of the world did it, surely we can suck it up and deal with the rough transition decade.
I totally agree, but the only way it’s possible is if the government subsidizes the transition. Which uhhhh, lol, yeah.
We have all these mega millions coming in from the tariffs though! We’re rolling in the dough from what I hear!
I’m not sure culturally and politically about 50% of our population to wrap their brains around switching to metric. It’s too “woke” or something. There are days when I consider moving back to Europe where I was once stationed as a young man just to sit with the adults at the adult table.
As a young engineer I was expected to be able to function in SI units and metric. It’s not a problem. I figured out speeds and distances on my own when I was stationed overseas.
Metric isn’t a cult, it’s well organised laziness.
I stand by that it’s a cult. A cult of well organized laziness that I long to be a part of.
62.83649272 gg
(gallons goulash)
Liberty that’s why! Please go watch Nate Bargatzes George Washington snl sketches and be proud of our horribly inefficient measurement systems.
haha pretty much. Why follow when we can lead! Who cares that we’re walking the wrong direction
Oh, I can answer this. It’s the heavy industrial stuff. I work with industrial piping. Let’s take a for example.
I want to get a 10NPS 900# class flange that is sch 80 bore. Unless you work in my world, that’s completely Greek to you. Now if you work outside of the US, you will want a DN250 150 DN flange that is sch 80 bore.
Those two parts are exactly the same. I will use 1 1/8″ studs to bolt it together, you will 30mm studs. They are within 1.5 mm of each other. When I put nuts on it, I will need a 1 13/16 socket and you will use a 45 mm socket, which is also within a mm or two of the exact same dimensions. And again, in reality, although the studs are different, the tools will be exactly the same. Once you get to around 1″ or 25mm wrenches, the US and non-US tools are the same.
Now in the world of piping, the US standard is greatly superior. The big reason was that there was a ton of testing done in the late 19th and early 20th century that came up with simplified calculations that were designed around older units (and even older piping dimensions which I think date to drunk 18th century blacksmiths with bent calipers). These formulas work in US units without any funky factors or goofiness. Calculations that I can do by hand in less than a minute will take a German engineer with similar experience 30 minutes or more because of the conversion factor issue.
As an indication of the goofiness, ask what unit is used for steam pressure in your country. It could be MPa (megapascal), Bar (1/10 of a Megapascal), Atms (1.013 Bar), or kg/cm2 (0.981 Bar). In the US, it’s psi. In recent years, the industry seems to be standardizing on Bar, but it isn’t there yet. Almost every international piping calculation I’ve seen actually reports the results in psi as well as whatever unit they use locally just to make sure that someone doesn’t get caught in the 2-3% difference in competing pressure units.
I don’t know outside of my world, but I expect on the big stuff, you will find similar statements. It’s too hard to re-tool for 200mm+ stuff and you just leave well enough alone.
Because I’m often drafting with a base unit of inches by concrete is typically measured by the cubic yard, I’m often converting cubic inches to cubic yards by dividing by 46656.
I wouldn’t say it’s a nightmare, but compared to metric, it’s obviously very stupid.
Frunky frunky but chic!
I miss David Johanson
Frunk is silly word, for reasons to do with stuff involving the French we, in the only country that makes sense, refer to the storage space in a passenger vehicle as the boot. This, as everyone knows, derives from the French “boite” or box. The etymology of “trunk” sadly doesn’t involve elephants so we can ignore them, infuriatingly is is French, again.
To further annoy, two of my cars have trunks, big removable things that look like pirate chests. Oh, no, chest, is torso is trunk is tronc is box is boot.
So, a forward facing cargo compartment could be a foot, which is either a pedal appendage or a unit of measurement equating to 36 barleycorns, or a froot. The latter could be easily seem as a homophobic slur, a less than flattering description of the mildly odd, or misconstrued as fruit (in which case the number of apples becomes important again.
May I suggest, that to avoid confusion in the future, such space should be referred to as the forehold. The cargo area forrad of the bridge bulkhead.
I like to think that all of that was typed in breathless fury, like I do when people use “nearside” or “offside” instead of right or left because of how right-handed sword-wearers mount a horse (and how sub-OEM “motor trade” like to confuse punters).
Or should it be starboard-handed sword-wearers? No, it should not.
Yeah, that was how it was typed.
Shut the Frunk Door!
I’m going to fill my Frunk up with Jorts, Jeggings, Snoods, and Skorts.
Don’t forget the sporks!
You rang?
My new excuse…. it’s not a beer belly, it’s a Frunk!
There just might be a bit too much junk in the frunk.
Hmmm, works better for women. From now on I’m referring to a uterus as a baby-frunk.
This also makes a lot of sense since on the Mainland back-in parking seems to be the norm; as seen in the promotional video, it makes loading up after a quick grocery shop a lot easier.
Maybe I’m missing something, but that doesn’t make sense.
I back-in park at my supermarket and just roll the shopping cart along the sidewalk up to the trunk – if I parked front-in, I’d have to wheel my cart onto the parking lot, watch out for peeps driving and for reversing vehicles to get to the trunk. Ergo, if you have a frunk and back-in park, then you’d have to wheel the cart onto the parking lot to load up the frunk as well.
Most peeps will load up the trunk if they back-in park and use the frunk for something else.
Huh? Most parking lots around me are back-to-back parking. If you back in, the trunk is against another car. If you park nose-in, the trunk is exposed and yes, you’re in traffic, but there’s room to open the rear hatch. Very few places have a sidewalk directly against a parking space.
At my local supermarket, instead of back-to-back parking, we have covered walkways between the spots, which is handy when it’s raining (I guess I should have mentioned that). However, there are back-to-back parking spots in one section of the lot that always feels like an addition, so your original post now makes sense.
Peeps sometimes back in to those spots, so if I have to use them and the person in front has backed in, I make sure I give them enough space to wheel a shopping cart up to the trunk.
When you said it could be used for seating I was picturing kids with googles on riding down the highway with a huge smile on their faces.
And the driver blissfully ignoring the hood blocking forward vision, I love it
Ow, we want the frunk
Give up the frunk
Ow, we need the frunk
We gotta have that frunk
Get up off my trunk (Get off)
Save your heart attack (Yeah, baby)
Ain’t nobody frunkin’ around (Ain’t nobody frunkin’ around)
No matter what they say
No, it ain’t that way
Ain’t nobody frunkin’ around
Carliament Frunkadelic for the win.
Won’t you take me down to,
Frunkytown?
I like big frunks and I cannot lie.
You’ve got a real type of Nio going down, gettin’ down
There’s a whole lot of Onvo going round
You’ve got a real type of Nio going down, gettin’ down
There’s a whole lot of Onvo going round
What are you gonna do with all that frunk?
All that frunk…
Get up, get yourself together
And drive your frunky soul
Play that frunky music, white boys
Lay down the boogie and play that frunky music ’til you die
I’m frunking out in every way
Honestly I’m not a fan of frunks. Only real use case I see for it for me would be for a single cab pickup, and even then you’d probably still be better off with an extended cab sans frunk.
So you’d prefer the empty vehicle volume is just covered up and inaccessible, or are you saying you’d prefer to make that passenger space like a cabover where the crumple zones are you kneecaps?
I don’t use the frunk in my Mach-E a ton, but it’s come in very handy for extra gear on trips. Sleeping bags, beach towels, snow gear, boots, etc fit great there, and it’s nice to have a place to put wet towels/clothes where it doesn’t get the interior wet.
I also typically keep my mobile charging gear there. Again, not needed much, but has absolutely come in very handy on multiple occasions, and nice to keep the rear cargo area clear for other stuff.
Telo has managed to make a frunkless electric pickup with a very small front end…
True, but we also haven’t seen any real-world crash testing from Telo yet either. Don’t get me wrong, I hope they succeed, and from what I can tell so far, safety is a major part of their design. From what I can tell from interior shots though, it does look like your feet are basically in the bumper.
Like some of yee olden days cars… a frunk could be a great place to store an actual honest to goodness spare tire
Old Subaru’s and the Yugo I think and many more would have you believe the engine being up front isn’t a hindrance to putting a spare up there.
IIRC the engine heat did those tires no favors.
True which should not be a problem in the funk of an ev
I mean if you’re stuck with the space, might as well put a frunk in, but Telo has shown you don’t “need” the space.
I like big frunks and I can not lie, even in a crew cab pickup. My son has a Lightning and the frunk is a big reason that I would consider replacing my ICE pickups with one. Great on a road trip to keep cab space open and a much safer place to keep tools and other valuable items out of sight of potential thieves.
I used the frunk on my mk1 and mk2 MR2s all the time. The removable sunroof would only fit in the frunk, and the trunk was small enough that you could easily run out of room when going on a trip.
The mk3 didn’t have a frunk, but it could have had one and then wouldn’t have been such an annoying car to own. No trunk either.
Xpeng has large frunks and apparently doesn’t lie as well. They also have a 6x6x6 van the last 6 is for the 6 rotor aircraft that it carries around in the back. Large frunks and 666 no wonder the crazy Christian conservatives that are running around crazy won’t allow them in.
Ya know, why should I have to wait for an affordable and fun-to-drive EV to come along just to enjoy a frunk? Stand by, I’m gonna go yank the intake, alternator, and battery off my BRZ and put down some carpet. BRB
Keeps your takeout warm!
I’m confused in the final photo why Captain Phasma’s luggage is in with a Clone Trooper helmet.
What she does on RnR is her business.
Times are hard since the fall of the First Order. She had to scrounge through all the (really) old stuff when she needed to replace her helmet. Kind of nice to include a pop of color with all that chrome, anyway.