Zac Quinn 
The electric pickup truck market is the segment to watch right now. With in-demand offerings like the Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, Hummer EV, and soon-to-be Tesla Cybertruck, Ram REV, Chevrolet Silverado EV, as well as the GMC Sierra EV, customers will soon be spoilt for choice. With these powerful battery powered machines comes the opportunity to rethink how trucks are designed, and we’re seeing that with things such as mid-gate passthroughs, third-row seating, and pass-through cargo tunnels. It would appear that things are just getting started, as well. Because if the latest patent application from Ford Motor Company is anything to go off of, these electric trucks could soon replace campers.
Ford Midgate Truck Patent: Details
According to Motor Authority, the patent application was published by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on January 31, 2023. The patent application is titled “Pivotable Sill for a Vehicle.” The patent describes a movable section of a pickup cab wall that could open to allow direct access from the bed to the cab, but this is not like other mid-gate designs. Instead, Ford’s proposed version would pivot up, like a rear hatch, rather than fold down. This would allow for a handy camping setup, depicted in one of the drawings where a crew cab pickup with a bed-mounted tent and flat-folding first- and second-row seats form a spacious sleeping area.
A notable feature of the example in this application is that the vehicle is a unibody, like the current Ford Maverick, rather than a body-on-frame vehicle like the F-Series trucks. In the document, Ford notes that body-on-frame pickups would be more difficult to employ this mid-gate arrangement due to the cab’s rear wall and the front of the bed being separate pieces.
GM originated the mid-gate with the body-on-frame Chevrolet Avalanche and Cadillac Escalade EXT. It then brought back the idea with the 2024 Chevy Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV, both of which feature a singular body construction atop of a rolling battery skateboard, rather than a separate cab and bed that we see in the conventional Silverado and Sierra pickup trucks . Ram also combined an electric powertrain and a mid-gate in its 1500 Revolution BEV concept. The concept also incorporated third-row jump seats and a front pass-through that creates a storage space stretching from the bed, through the cab, and into the frunk.
Meanwhile, the patent application from Ford hints that the company plans to match these features. While the current F-150 Lightning is derived from the body-on-frame gasoline F-150, Ford has indicated that a follow-up electric full-size truck will arrive later this decade and will be based on a dedicated platform. While a patent application is no guarantee of production plans, this application could apply to that truck.
