Ford engaged on a winch for electrical vans

Ford is growing a winch for electrical automobiles that might plug immediately right into a cost port.

It is commonplace for winches to run off a automobile’s 12-volt AC accent electrical energy, however in a patent software printed by the United States Patent and Trademark Workplace (USPTO) on July 9, Ford proposes operating a cable from a winch to a cost port to attract energy from an EV’s battery pack. That requires bidirectional charging functionality, which Ford has supplied on its F-150 Lightning pickup since launch.

Ford EV winch patent picture

To make this work, the winch would have a DC motor, permitting it to run off energy from the battery pack with out the necessity for an inverter to transform electrical energy to AC. DC motors can be extra environment friendly than AC motors, Ford says within the software, and an EV battery pack is a a lot bigger energy supply than the 12-volt batteries sometimes used to energy winches.

Ford already lets clients use battery packs to energy instruments and different units with the Professional Energy Onboard system out there within the Lightning and F-150 hybrid, utilizing devoted shops within the mattress.

Ford EV winch patent picture

As a result of it is designed to be plugged right into a cost port, Ford additionally notes that the winch might be powered by a distinct EV to the one it is mounted to, in addition to different automobiles with cost ports, resembling plug-in hybrids. Different exterior energy sources might be used as effectively, and the winch might even be faraway from the automobile and operated remotely, Ford suggests.

This winch looks as if a pure match for Ford’s next-generation electrical truck, codenamed T3, however that mannequin has been delayed till 2027 because the automaker refocuses on hybrids and smaller, extra inexpensive EVs. However maybe we’ll see it on a extra off-road-ready model of the Lightning sooner or later.