Abstract:
Camping is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S., and electric vehicles (EVs) bring exciting possibilities for enhancing the camping experience with their storage space and built-in power. However, most car tents on the market are designed for trunks and only serve as sleeping areas. Meanwhile, camping trailers, though offering full setups for cooking, sleeping, and relaxing, are heavy and cause range anxiety for EV users by significantly increasing energy consumption due to added weight and drag.
This project is being developed in professional partnership with Honda, focusing on innovative uses for the EV front trunk (frunk). By collaborating with Honda's design and engineering teams, FoldNest aims to deliver a solution that maximizes frunk functionality while aligning with the needs of modern EV users.
FoldNest is a lightweight, energy-efficient solution that transforms the EV frunk into a cozy "living room" space, complementing existing trunk "bedroom" setups. The design is simple and user-friendly. With app-controlled, auto-extending frames and terrain-responsive sensors, setting up FoldNest is simple. Illuminated frames double as adjustable lighting, an optional sliding TV screen adds an extra layer of comfort. By creating a sense of "home away from home," FoldNest makes camping with EVs more enjoyable, practical, and fun.
Research Phase: Newspaper
To explore the problem space, students will develop a research dossier in the form of a newspaper with five sections: Focus, Arts, Business, Science & Technology, and Numbers. To broaden the scope of the research problem, students will collect related articles and essays from newspapers, edited websites, magazines, on-site visits, and academic or trade journals. Based on the literature reviewed, students will develop four design conjectures, one for each section. Much like the literature review, these conjectures are meant to explore the problem space and uncover its issues.
Focusing on primarily larger electric vehicles like SUVs and pickup trucks and knowing that the frunk space is a relatively new area in car design, I noticed that the current funk design has very few storage and organization options and limited functionality.
At the beginning of my research, I hadn’t determined my main focus yet. Knowing that the frunk is often considered a place for storage, I chose to ask people about how they handle storage in their homes and moving solutions. Taiwanese international students from my student club are the people I can reach the most, so I conducted this survey with them.
Infographic poster for Numbers Section
The most valuable takeaways from this survey are the organization and space-saving strategies. I found that organizing by category and maximizing vertical space are the most preferable strategies. Other notable methods are space-saving multifunctional furniture.
When thinking about new technology, I'm always interested in AI implementation. The two main takeaways from this section are the improvement of AI’s problem-solving abilities and the development of AI camera sensors.
For the Science & Tech. section, my design conjecture is called Frunk.AI, a system utilizing the AI camera sensors implemented in the frunk space. This design is inspired by the articles about OpenAI’s new model (Knight, 2024) and NVIDIA’s new AI sensors (Ciborowski, 2024). One crucial feature of Frunk.AI is smart object detection and organization. Using AI, the system can analyze and calculate the available space and suggest the best ways to organize items. The object recognition feature can distinguish fragile or liquid items, and the system will alert the driver if something breaks or spills. For instance: “Item not securely fastened” or “Fragile item detected—drive carefully.” The other features I included in the design are temperature and environmental control. With the AI sensors, the drivers can see the temperature and humidity levels on the touch panels. Drivers can adjust them manually or turn on the auto mode to let AI adjust them. For example, when grocery items are detected, the AI will lower the temperature to keep them fresh. If there is sensitive equipment in the frunk, AI will keep the temperature level stable.
Given that the frunk is an extra storage space for the EVs, I started to look for some existing storage methods, customizations, and multifunctional and space-saving furniture.
For this section, my conjecture concept is hidden modular organizers. This concept is inspired by the Netflix series Resurrected Rides (Scheer-Erb, 2024) and the article about space-saving design furniture (Rivera, 2023). The top and middle layers are the fake floor, which can be connected by magnets. When disconnected, the middle layer has some insert panels that can form into customizable-size boxes for the drivers to store their items. The magnets on both insert panels and the fake floor will attach the boxes firmly so that the items inside won’t be damaged during the drive.
The features that I would like to move forward with are freedom of customization and modular design. These features allow users to rearrange and adapt to different storage needs. This built-in structure will be beneficial in different scenarios, whether for daily usage like grocery shopping or long-distance trips like camping. Some downsides of this design are also obvious. The weight and material considerations will impact users’ accessibility a lot. It can also be challenging for users to take the fake floor off.
While I was doing my research for the business section, I was thinking how to make the EVs and frunk to reach a wider audience. The two major takeaways from my readings were that we should design with inclusivity and care in mind, and more people now purchase trucks for their lifestyle and appearance aesthetics.
For the business section, my design conjecture is called the auto-lift extension, a built-in conveyor belt in the frunk space that can lift heavy objects. The articles on Walmart’s new inclusive shopping carts and Americans’ obsession with pickup trucks are the inspiration for this design conjecture. The takeaway from the Walmart article is inclusivity (Gore, 2024); the other articles are about luxury and modern appeal from pickups (Cowan, 2022).
With care and inclusivity in mind, the auto-lift extension can benefit a wide range of users. This design helps people who can’t lift heavy items by themselves. The adjustable heights allow inclusivity for users to customize to their needs. People can also operate the system through the mobile app and smartphones, which makes the auto-lift extension even more accessible. For the luxury and modern appeal aspects, the auto-lift extension will be a distinct feature for the pickups and their frunk space. Overall, this design conjecture is aiming to support people with bulky and outsized items while adding some sparkle to the plain frunk area.
Since I'm not originally from the US, and the car preferences are very different here compared to my home country, Taiwan. I want to have a deeper understanding of the American car culture, and some of my findings are very fascinating. I found that one of the reasons why Americans love driving larger vehicles is that they love to spend time with their family and enjoy outdoor adventures.
Given that the frunk is a new space for car designers and manufacturers, the current frunk designs have very few storage and organization options, and the functionality is limited. Knowing that many people purchase larger vehicles for outdoor activities, I decided camping to be my focus area, and I'm interested in how campers will utilize the frunk space and how I can design something that'll enhance the camping experience.
For my focus area, camping, I noticed that EVs bring a lot of positives for campers. It reduces noise pollution and provides power outlets to replace gas-powered products. I also learned that its critical to avoid overpacking for a better camping experience.
The design conjecture I came up with for my focus topic, camping, is called the frunk view, an installed extension structure in the frunk space for users to hammock rest. This design is inspired by the article about camping essentials and tips (Shorr-Mckee, 2023) and how EVs change camping culture (Valdes-Dapena, 2024). With the frunk view, campers can effortlessly enjoy serenity in the frunk space. Once operated, the hidden poles will pop out and extend. The angle of the poles can be adjusted to the driver’s needs depending on different geographies, user height, and weight. After that, the camper can hang the hammock on the poles with the hooks and begin to enjoy. The hammock is also designed to be multifunctional, which can be transformed into a sleeping bag when it comes to actual sleep time at night. Overall, this design conjecture can benefit campers by reducing the amount of stuff they have to bring and also offering a unique relaxing experience utilizing the frunk area.
Formative Assessment (protocol, results)
Mid-Point Concept Review
After finishing all my research, interviews, and formative assessments, I found that EV car camping is like a home. There are a lot of camping products for pickup trucks, but most of them are for trunks and only serve as sleeping areas. My intent is to design frunk accessories that serve as a kitchen or living room, complementing the "bedroom" in the trunk.
After discussing with people from my partner Honda and my professor, I decided to move forward with Concept C, a frunk tent that serves as the living room for EV car camping.
Production Phase
My initial thought process is to tie the frunk tent idea to the lantern culture from my home country, Taiwan. In my culture, a lantern symbolizes hope and warmth. I wish this idea could bring warmth to the living room setup. I then came up with the idea of using illuminated frames for support to create the lantern effect at nighttime. The sketches above are some variations of my ideation process.
I then started to build my project in Blender. I started by creating the poles, then the cloth/tent. Next, I created the scene to display the camping environment. After adding the texture and materials, I started to animate the tent setup.
Tent Setup
Step 1: A close-up of the front of the Honda EV, with red arrows indicating key points where to attach the tent.
Step 2: The FoldNest frame structure extends from the frunk, forming a skeletal frame that will support the canopy.
Step 3: The fully deployed FoldNest canopy, providing a covered outdoor space in front of the vehicle
Final Renders
