Seat attachment for electric recreational vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12589832-B2
Application number	US-202318221511-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 13, 2023
Priority date	Jul 18, 2022
Publication date	Mar 31, 2026
Grant date	Mar 31, 2026

Abstract

An electric recreational vehicle, has: a frame extending along a longitudinal axis; an electric motor mounted to the frame; a battery pack mounted to the frame and disposed at least partially rearward of the electric motor relative to the longitudinal axis, the battery pack including one or more battery modules operatively connected to the electric motor for supplying electrical energy to the electric motor, a battery enclosure containing the one or more battery modules, and at least one structural member located within the battery enclosure and delimiting at least one module-receiving section, the one or more battery modules located within the at least one module-receiving section; and a seat disposed over the battery pack and secured to the at least one structural member of the battery pack, a load transmission path extending between the frame and the seat through the at least one structural member of the battery pack.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . An electric recreational vehicle, comprising:
a frame extending along a longitudinal axis between a front end and a rear end of the frame; an electric motor mounted to the frame; a battery pack mounted to the frame and disposed at least partially rearward of the electric motor relative to the longitudinal axis, the battery pack including:
one or more battery modules operatively connected to the electric motor for supplying electrical energy to the electric motor,
a battery enclosure containing the one or more battery modules, and
at least one structural member located within the battery enclosure and delimiting at least one module-receiving section, the one or more battery modules located within the at least one module-receiving section; and
a seat disposed over the battery pack, a load transmission path extending between the frame and the seat through the at least one structural member of the battery pack.

2 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the at least one structural member includes two structural members connected together to compress the one or more battery modules therebetween.

3 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the seat is secured to the at least one structural member of the battery pack.

4 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the battery enclosure includes a bottom panel secured to the frame, the at least one structural member including a plurality of structural members secured to the bottom panel and longitudinally distributed about the longitudinal axis, the structural members being transverse to the bottom panel.

5 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 4 , wherein the battery enclosure includes a cover disposed over the one or more battery modules, at least one cleat disposed on a top panel of the cover, the at least one cleat secured to the at least one of the structural members, the load transmission path extending through the at least one cleat.

6 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 5 , wherein the seat includes at least one recess sized to accept the at least one cleat, the at least one cleat engaging the at least one recess to inhibit movements of the seat along a longitudinal direction parallel to the longitudinal axis and along a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.

7 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the at least one cleat and the at least one recess includes two cleats and two recesses axially spaced apart from one another relative to the longitudinal axis.

8 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the frame includes a tunnel at least partially enclosing a space receiving a drive track, the battery pack disposed over the tunnel and secured to the tunnel, the seat secured to the tunnel via the battery pack, the load transmission path extending from the tunnel to the seat through the at least one structural member of the battery pack.

9 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 8 , wherein the frame includes a sub-frame disposed forward of the tunnel relative to the longitudinal axis, the frame including a structure disposed over the sub-frame, movements of the seat in a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis and in a vertical direction perpendicular to both of the transverse direction and the longitudinal axis inhibited by the structure.

10 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 9 , wherein the structure includes two front legs secured to front suspensions and two rear legs secured to the tunnel, the structure including two brackets each secured to a respective one of the two rear legs, the seat in abutment against the two brackets.

11 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 10 , wherein the two brackets define first abutment faces facing a lateral direction transverse to the longitudinal axis and second abutment faces facing the vertical direction transverse to both of the longitudinal axis and the lateral direction, the seat having two tabs protruding along the longitudinal axis from a forward end of the seat, each of the two tabs in abutment against both of a respective one of the first abutment faces and a respective one of the second abutment faces.

12 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 11 , wherein the two tabs are monolithically connected to a body of a seat pan of the seat.

13 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 1 , comprising a hook secured to a rear end of the battery pack, the hook engaging the seat.

14 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 13 , wherein the hook is secured to the at least one structural member.

15 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the electric recreational vehicle is one of a snowmobile and a personal watercraft.

16 . An electric recreational vehicle, comprising:
a frame extending along a longitudinal axis between a front end and a rear end of the frame; an electric motor mounted to the frame; a battery pack mounted to the frame and disposed at least partially rearward of the electric motor relative to the longitudinal axis, the battery pack including:
one or more battery modules operatively connected to the electric motor for supplying electrical energy to the electric motor,
a battery enclosure containing the one or more battery modules, and
at least one structural member located within the battery enclosure and delimiting at least one module-receiving section, the one or more battery modules located within the at least one module-receiving section; and
a seat disposed over the battery pack, the seat secured to the frame via the at least one structural member.

17 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 16 , wherein the battery enclosure includes a cover disposed over the one or more battery modules, at least one cleat disposed over a top panel of the cover, the at least one cleat secured to the at least one structural member.

18 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 17 , wherein the seat includes at least one recess sized to accept the at least one cleat, the at least one cleat engaging the at least one recess to inhibit movements of the seat along a longitudinal direction parallel to the longitudinal axis and along a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.

19 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 16 , comprising a hook secured to a rear end of the battery pack, the hook engaging the seat.

20 . The electric recreational vehicle of claim 19 , wherein the hook is secured to the at least one structural member.

21 . An electric recreational vehicle, comprising:
a frame extending along a longitudinal axis between a front end and a rear end; an electric motor mounted to the frame; a battery pack mounted to the frame, the battery pack including
one or more battery modules operatively connected to the electric motor for supplying electrical energy to the electric motor,
a battery enclosure containing the one or more battery modules, and
at least one structural member located within the battery enclosure and applying compression to the one or more battery modules; and
a seat disposed over the battery pack, a load transmission path extending between the frame and the seat through the at least one structural member of the battery pack.

Assignees

• Taiga Motors Inc

Inventors

• Martel Philippe
• Dowden Paul
• Lefrancois Jérôme
• Bernier Patrick

Classifications

• B62J43/16

  on motorcycles or the like · CPC title

• B60L50/66

  Arrangements of batteries · CPC title

• B60K11/04

  Arrangement or mounting of radiators, radiator shutters, or radiator blinds · CPC title

• B60K2001/003

  with means for cooling the electrical propulsion units · CPC title

• B60Y2200/252

  Snowmobiles · CPC title