US 12,330,490 B2
Vehicle body structure for electric vehicle
Sadao Miyazawa, Kobe (JP); Kenichi Watanabe, Kobe (JP); and Kenta Kojima, Toyota (JP)
Assigned to Kobe Steel, Ltd., Kobe (JP); and TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed by Kobe Steel, Ltd., Kobe (JP); and TOYOTA JIDOSHA KABUSHIKI KAISHA, Toyota (JP)
Filed on May 2, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/661,650.
Claims priority of application No. 2021-079287 (JP), filed on May 7, 2021.
Prior Publication US 2022/0355656 A1, Nov. 10, 2022
Int. Cl. B60K 1/04 (2019.01); B62D 21/02 (2006.01)
CPC B60K 1/04 (2013.01) [B62D 21/02 (2013.01); B60K 2001/0438 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A vehicle body structure for an electric vehicle comprising:
a battery disposed at a center lower portion of a vehicle body;
a side sill being hollow, the side sill extending in a vehicle body front-rear direction outside in a vehicle width direction of the battery;
a first member being hollow, the first member disposed below the side sill and outside in the vehicle width direction of the battery, the first member extending in the vehicle body front-rear direction, the first member having a cross section perpendicular to the vehicle body front-rear direction formed as a closed cross section; and
at least one second member made of steel, the second member arranged substantially between the battery and the first member in the vehicle width direction, the second member extending in the vehicle width direction from the battery toward the first member, the second member having a cross section perpendicular to the vehicle width direction forming at least a part of a closed cross-sectional shape,
wherein a plurality of second members are arranged at intervals in the vehicle body front-rear direction, and
wherein the second member arranged in a center of the vehicle in the vehicle body front-rear direction has higher strength than the second member located at an end of the vehicle in the vehicle body front-rear direction.