Most conventional cars have an engine at the front and space for luggage at the back, but it doesn't have to be that way with electric cars. As a result, some car makers have taken the opportunity to make the most of the space which is usually filled with oily bits of machinery.

Electric motors are compact and simple, and a lot of electric cars have them located under the floor, often close to the rear wheels. This means there’s space in the front for other things, including a hole for storing extra stuff. Some people who should know better refer to these spaces as ‘froots,’ a contraction of ‘front boot.’ Americans call boots ‘trunks’ so the Stateside version is ‘frunk.’ Sadly, that’s a widely used term as well, even though it sounds like a variety of cold sore.

Some frunks are frootier than others, in that certain cars have about enough room for an emaciated toothbrush, while others will swallow several bags of shopping. And here’s a word to the wise, some all-wheel-drive versions of electric cars have motors front and rear, and are often frunkless, while the two wheel drive models have one. 

Anyway, we’ve drawn up a guide that you might call ‘the froot, the bad and the frunkly’ of electric car front luggage lockers.

"I need a new wing for my Mustang. Someone ate the last one"

Before we start, let us briefly consider the Fisker Ocean, a high end electric sports utility whose front end is sealed and frunkless, because company boss and serial vehicle designer Henrik Fisker, thinks frunks are a waste of space. “We kind of did a little survey and figured out a lot of people actually don't even use it,” he told Ginny when she interviewed him, adding for good measure: “Why the hell would you open the big hood and use that? So, we fixed it and we got rid of the hinges, got rid of all the seals and that's how we took cost out of the vehicle.”

Ford would beg to differ, which is why a frunk lurks in the Mustang Mach-E’s nose. It’s a 100 litre wipe-clean space that comes with a bung, so if you want to house foodstuffs or anything grubby there, you can give your Ford frunk a wash, pull out the plug and drain away adulterated water, remembering not to do this in your garage.

Ford will be bringing its battery powered F150 Lightning pick up to Britain next year. It’s a twin motor, 4x4 monster, with the front power unit sitting under a 400 litre luggage space Ford insists on calling a ‘mega power frunk,’ and indeed a ‘walk in closet.’ This is accessed by opening the truck’s snappily-titled alligator bonnet, and boasts a quartet of 120v power plugs and a couple of USBs. This is surely the world’s biggest frunk.

The F150 Lightning is likely to be taking on Rivian R1T electric pick up (there’s also a Range Rover sized SUV called the R1S), which has bug eyed headlamps and 311 litres of frunk space. This is found behind a fixed front, so stuff has to be heaved over the Rivian’s square cut snout. However, it does have a techy party trick; Alexa-based voice command opening, which means this virtual handmaiden is now taking over people’s vehicles as well as their homes.

The Rivian R1T's frunk is opened using voice activation

What about the Mazda MX-30? Frunk or no frunk? Here’s editor-in-chief Tom Barnard’s considered opinion. “It should have one as there is enough room to house a family of four under the bonnet. But it doesn’t.”

To be fair to the quirky Mazda, it’s not alone. Many electric cars that share their architecture with petrol and diesel versions (think Vauxhall Corsa-e and Peugeot e208) have snouts positively filled with electric motors and the gubbins that controls them. Ease of servicing could be another reason for this, another is that as these cars are built alongside their ICE brethren, making them in a similar way saves money and complexity.

​Mercedes use the same theory as Fisker for the EQS - the bonnet doesn't even open unless you are a mechanic who has been on the right training course. This is apparently because posher versions are stuffed with a giant filter that’s part of its ventilation gear. Cheaper EQS models don’t get this feature, so could have a boot in the nose, but Mercedes apparently thinks the idea of cheaper cars having a feature not found on costlier ones is perverse.

There's a huge amount of space under the Mazda MX-30's bonnet. But it can't be used for storing anything but air

By contrast, the Porsche Taycan has an 81 litre luggage locker under its sloping, beaky snout that will take a soft overnight case or a couple of shopping bags. Or a Ginny Buckley, as our header picture shows. Strangely enough this is matched to the millilitre by the Audi e-tron GT, something aided by both essentially being the same the same machine under the skin.

The Polestar 2 has a comparatively teeny 35 litre space, but it's better than nothing and big enough to stash your charging cable so you don't need to unpack the boot to pull it out at the charge point.

Of course, Tesla is the frunk-meister general of the electric car world, as its two wheel driven offerings from the Model S onwards have offered a decent sized boot between the front wheels. Last year Tesla gave the Model 3 a minor facelift, which included making its frunk area a little smaller, apparently to accommodate a heat pump. Anyway, there’s 88 litres of space remaining. As for the Y, it’s roomier still, with 117 litres of room up front. Another bag of shopping? Y not.

Tesla - the master of all frunks