Electric vehicle

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016207418-A1
Application number	US-201615001757-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jan 20, 2016
Priority date	Jan 21, 2015
Publication date	Jul 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A vehicle is provided including a frame assembly. The frame assembly includes a front frame module, a middle frame module, and a rear frame module. The front frame module is fastened to a front portion of the middle frame module. The rear frame module is fastened to a rear portion of the middle frame module. The middle frame module is interchangeable with at least one other middle frame module to change a length of the vehicle.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . An electric vehicle including:
a plurality of ground engaging members; a chassis supported by the plurality of ground engaging members; an electric motor supported by the chassis; a drive train supported by the chassis and operative to provide power from the electric motor to at least one ground engaging member; a frame assembly supported by the plurality of ground engaging members, the frame assembly including a front frame module, a middle frame module, and a rear frame module; and a seating area supported by the middle frame module, the front frame module being fastened to a front portion of the middle frame module, the rear frame module being fastened to a rear portion of the middle frame module, and the middle frame module being interchangeable with at least one other middle frame module to change a length of the vehicle.

2 . The electric vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the middle frame module includes a steering assembly frame including a left steering assembly mount and a right steering assembly mount, and the vehicle further includes a steering assembly coupled to one of the left and right steering assembly mounts.

3 . The electric vehicle of claim 1 , further including a battery tray supported by the middle frame portion and configured to hold a plurality of batteries operative to provide energy to the electric motor.

4 . The electric vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the battery tray extends between a plurality of longitudinally-extending frame members of the rear frame module.

5 . The electric vehicle of claim 3 , wherein electrical wiring is routed along frame members of the middle frame module from the plurality of batteries to the electric motor.

6 . The electric vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the middle frame module includes a floor frame and a cab frame positioned above the floor frame.

7 . The electric vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the floor frame and cab frame each include a plurality of frame members, frame members of the floor frame each have a height that is greater than a height of frame members of the cab frame, and the frame members of the floor frame are coupled together to form a plurality of storage openings in the floor frame.

8 . The electric vehicle of claim 7 , further including at least one of a battery and an electronic controller coupled to the floor frame in at least one of the storage openings.

9 . The electric vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the seating area includes a first seat assembly and a second seat assembly positioned rearward of the first seat assembly, and the first and second seat assemblies are coupled to the floor frame and are interchangeable with each other.

10 . The electric vehicle of claim 6 , wherein the seating area includes a first seat assembly and a second seat assembly positioned rearward of the first seat assembly, the first and second seat assemblies is coupled to the floor frame, and at least one of the first and second seat assemblies is configured for positioning in a forward orientation and in a reverse orientation when coupled to the floor frame.

11 . The electric vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the seating area includes a seat assembly, the seat assembly includes a seat supported by a seat frame, the seat including a seat bottom and a seat back, and the seat frame includes an upper frame portion supporting the seat and forms a rear opening below the seat extending from the floor panel to the upper frame portion.

12 . The electric vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the electric motor and the drive train are mounted only to the front frame module.

13 . The electric vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the ground engaging members include a pair of front wheels coupled to the front frame module and a pair of rear wheels coupled to the rear frame module.

14 . The electric vehicle of claim 1 , further including a front independent suspension assembly coupled to the front frame module and a rear independent suspension assembly coupled to the rear frame module.

15 . A method of manufacturing a vehicle including:
receiving orders for a plurality of vehicles; selecting a front frame module and a rear frame module for each vehicle, the front frame module being common for each vehicle and the rear frame module being common for each vehicle; selecting a middle frame module from a plurality of middle frame modules for each vehicle based on the order, each middle frame module of the plurality of middle frame modules having a different size; and assembling the front frame module, the selected middle frame module, and the rear frame module together for each vehicle.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of middle frame modules includes a first middle frame module and a second middle frame module, and the first middle frame module is configured to support fewer seats than the second middle frame module.

17 . The method of claim 15 , further including coupling a seat support to the middle frame module.

18 . The method of claim 15 , wherein each of the plurality of middle frame modules have a different length and include a different number of seat frames.

19 . The method of claim 15 , wherein each middle frame module includes a cab frame and a floor frame configured to support a seating area.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further including determining a size of a floor of the vehicle based on the order and coupling at least one floor panel to the floor frame.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein determining the size of the floor includes selecting a size of the at least one floor panel from a plurality of sizes of floor panels based on the order, each floor panel having a different size based on the corresponding selected middle frame module.

22 . The method of claim 20 , wherein coupling the at least one floor panel to the floor frame includes coupling a plurality of floor panels to each other and the floor frame based on the order.

23 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the assembling includes coupling the front frame module to a forward frame of the middle frame module with fasteners and coupling the rear frame module to a rear portion of the middle frame module with fasteners.

24 . The method of claim 15 , further including coupling a common suspension assembly to at least one of the front and rear frame modules of each vehicle, and adjusting a stiffness of the suspension assembly of each vehicle based on the selected middle frame module.

25 . The method of claim 15 , the middle frame module including a left steering assembly mount and a right steering assembly mount, further including assembling a steering assembly to one of the left and right steering assembly mounts for each vehicle based on the order.

26 . The method of claim 15 , the rear frame module being configured to support a plurality of accessory attachments.

27 . An electric vehicle including:
a plurality of ground engaging members; a chassis supported by the plurality of ground engaging members; an electric motor supported by the chassis and operative to provide power to at least one ground engaging member; a plurality of batteries providing electric power to the electric motor; an operator seating area supported by the chassis and positioned in a middle portion of the vehicle; an independent front suspension assembly; and an independent rear suspension assembly including a left rear suspe

Assignees

• Polaris Inc

Inventors

• Bergstrom Mark P
• Hertzberg Brian T
• Raske Brent D

Classifications

• B60K2016/003

  solar power driven · CPC title

• B60G3/06

  the arm being rigid · CPC title

• B60Y2200/91

  Electric vehicles · CPC title

• B60G2300/50

  Electric vehicles; Hybrid vehicles · CPC title

• B62D63/025 Primary

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