How do you make better use of the space in your car’s trunk? CarBuzz has just discovered a new patent from BMW that proposes doing it through Trunkception – a trunk in your trunk, if you follow the logic from Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Inception. Or if you just need a BMW with more storage space, you could buy a pickup truck. Oh yeah, BMW doesn’t make one of those.
The new invention would give you a sub trunk in your sedan to hold smaller items more conveniently, but even more cleverly, could also hold and let you use your car’s electric charger without taking it out of the vehicle. To understand this, we must go deeper.
Second Trunk Is Designed For Electric Car Charging
BMW Charger PatentBMW
Throwing your junk in the trunk is great if that junk is large. If it’s small, then it just flings itself around every time you stop, start, or, especially in a BMW, go around corners. It’s not ideal, and car companies and accessory makers sell an almost endless array of parts to try and fix it. BMW might have just made them all obsolete.
The Germans heard you liked trunks, so they put a trunk in your trunk so you can have storage in your storage. Though with all respect to Xzibit, this might be more like the matryoshka of trunks.
BMW’s invention essentially mounts a smaller trunk to your car’s trunk lid. You wouldn’t get to it from inside the car’s trunk, but instead the trunk lid would have to open two different ways.
One opening would give you access to the mini trunk. Effectively opening only the trunklid skin, it would open to a compartment with storage meant to hold your vehicle charging cable. It can do more than just store the cable, though. It can even make charging cleaner and easier.
Would You Use This For Charging, Or To Hold Your Gym Clothes?
2027 BMW i3 InteriorBMW
The mini trunk would be sized to hold your Level 1charging brick. That’s perfect for drivers who use the Level 1 charger, because most vehicles make you store it under the cargo floor.
BMW’s real genius idea is that it would also have a connection inside for the charge handle, the part that plugs into the car. This would be connected to the charge port in the car all the time.
So, instead of dragging out the entire Level 1 charger and plugging it into the wall at one end and the car at the other, it would stay attached to the car. You take the wall plug end out and plug it into the outlet, then close the outer trunk. The rest of the cable stays inside your car. It’s more secure, making it harder to steal, and it should be much quicker to use, keeping you dry in the rain.
To make sure you can’t open the full trunk during a charging session, the car would monitor the session. If you try to pop the trunk while it’s charging, only the outer lid would open, giving you access.
It would be ideal for EV buyers who carry their cord around, though it’s an expensive and complicated way to address that. Plus, most EV owners don’t bring that charger with them, and either charge at home or use fast charge infrastructure when they aren’t. It makes more sense in Europe, where “bring your own charger” is more common for roadside EV charging thanks to 240-volt power from standard outlets.
Fortunately, it would also work for normal cargo like we suggested. The small tool kit BMWs come with, or a snow scraper, or anything else you want easy access to. A foam insert would stop items from rattling around in the space.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
2026 BMW M3 Sedan Rear ViewBMW
Tiny trunks for charger storage like this are common in EVs, especially those without a proper frunk. The Hyundai Ioniq 5, for example, has a small storage space under the hood where the charger can be stored. However, having to open the hood, which is still open to the world from underneath, isn’t ideal. BMW’s own new i3 has a similar space.
This idea is brilliant, because it gives you easy-access storage out of the weather and makes Level 1 charging easier at the same time. Plus, it would work for non-EVs if you want storage space, as well as for EVs if you don’t plan on bringing the brick with you.
Patent filings do not guarantee the use of such technology in future vehicles and are often used exclusively as a means of protecting intellectual property. Such a filing cannot be construed as confirmation of production intent.
Source: DPMA
