Vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11148738-B2
Application number	US-202016752698-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2020
Priority date	Feb 20, 2019
Publication date	Oct 19, 2021
Grant date	Oct 19, 2021

Abstract

A vehicle including: a pair of suspension towers, each of which houses, in an upright state, a suspension unit configured to provide suspension to a front wheel; a power unit compartment that is provided between the pair of suspension towers, and that houses at least a drive unit configured to drive the front wheels; at least one of a high voltage component or a low voltage component, configuring a sub unit disposed at a vehicle upper side of the suspension towers; and a driving seat that is disposed in a vehicle cabin at the vehicle upper side of the power unit compartment, and that is provided such that feet of a driver are positioned further toward a vehicle lower side than upper ends of the suspension towers and such that a head of the driver is positioned further toward the vehicle upper side than the sub unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle comprising:
a pair of suspension towers, each of which houses, in an upright state, a suspension unit configured to provide suspension to a front wheel;
a power unit compartment that is provided between the pair of suspension towers, and that houses at least a drive unit configured to drive the front wheels;
at least one of a high voltage component or a low voltage component, configuring a sub unit disposed at a vehicle upper side of the suspension towers; and
a driving seat that is disposed in a vehicle cabin at the vehicle upper side of the power unit compartment, and that is provided such that feet of a driver are positioned further toward a vehicle lower side than upper ends of the suspension towers and such that a head of the driver is positioned further toward the vehicle upper side than the sub unit.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the driving seat is configured so as to be removable from the vehicle cabin or stowable within the vehicle cabin.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein a drive battery is disposed under a floor of the vehicle cabin at a vehicle rear side of the power unit compartment.

4. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein:
the high voltage component is disposed at the vehicle upper side of one of the pair of suspension towers; and
the low voltage component is disposed at the vehicle upper side of another of the pair of suspension towers.

5. The vehicle of claim 4 , wherein:
the high voltage component is housed in a high voltage unit compartment that is partitioned off from the vehicle cabin by a partitioning wall; and
an insertion opening, which allows insertion from outside the vehicle, is provided in the high voltage unit compartment.

6. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising:
a side ramp configured to bridge between a floor surface of the vehicle cabin and a road surface, at a side entrance/exit of a vehicle width direction side of the vehicle cabin; and
a rear ramp configured to bridge between the floor surface and the road surface, at a rear entrance/exit of a vehicle rear side of the vehicle cabin.

7. The vehicle of claim 6 , further comprising:
a side stowing section that is provided below the floor of the vehicle cabin and that is configured to stow the side ramp; and
a rear stowing section that is provided below the floor of the vehicle cabin so as to be spaced apart from the side stowing section in plan view, and that is configured to stow the rear ramp.

8. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein:
the vehicle is configured by joining a plurality of modules together in a vehicle front-rear direction; and
the suspension towers, the power unit compartment, the sub unit, and the driving seat are disposed in a front module located at a front of the vehicle.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hara Yasuhiro
• Tsuruta Ayano

Classifications

• B62D63/025 Primary

  Modular vehicles (superstructures for busses having modular sections B62D31/025) · CPC title

• B60K2001/0438

  Arrangement under the floor · CPC title

• B60L50/66

  Arrangements of batteries · CPC title

• B60Y2200/141

  Light trucks · CPC title

• B62D25/08

  Front or rear portions {(sub-frames for mounting engine or suspensions B62D21/11)} · CPC title