Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Optimal Electric Vehicles Corporation

Viktor Kostrominov

Marwan Ahmad Elbkaily

Mohamed Ridha Baccouche

Michael Musa Azzouz

Darrin Neil Wagner

Edgar Edward Donabedian

Ridha Baccouche

Muhsin M Hamdoon

Tim Alan Mouch

Parameswararao Pothuraju

Timothy Alan Mouch

Bakhtyar Baig

Daniel Joseph McCarthy

John Martin Knittel

Eric Elliott

Jungmao Michael Chang

Christopher Roche

Mark Bono

Jingyu Liu

Mark Preston

Song Young

Dan Daniels

James Scott

Mustafa Usuf

A low floor electric bus includes a frame extending longitudinally from a front end to a rear end, the frame having two sidepieces and a plurality of crossmembers extending between and coupled to the sidepieces, wherein the frame has a central section positioned at a lower height relative to the front and/or rear sections. The bus further includes a battery pack mounted to the central section of the frame; a powertrain having an electric motor and a driveshaft, wherein the electric motor is mounted to the rear section of the frame behind a rear axle coupled to the frame and the driveshaft extends from the electric motor to the rear axle; and a cradle coupled to the front section of the frame. A mixed-material cabin is also provided. The cabin includes a passenger cabin with a floor, sidewalls, and ceiling having steel, ceramic, and composite components.

Low floor electric vehicle

The disclosed inventive concept provides a robust tow hook mounting structure for use with vehicles having curved frames in which the tow hook remains fixed to the vehicle during a front end impact event. The structure includes weld nuts aligned in a vehicle longitudinal direction. A frame reinforcement to which the tow hook is attached is welded to the front tip of the curved frame. Mounting bolts are aligned in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle to secure the tow hook and the tow hook reinforcement to the frame weld nuts. The shear capacity of the mounting bolts is higher than the towing capacity and the crash load during an impact event. The structure generates high bending moments that trigger favorable bending deformations in the kick down area of the frame in which the structure functions as a backup arrangement in an impact event and reduces high crash pulses.

Tow hook mounting structure for use with vehicle having curved frame

A vehicle roof support structure including a pair of reinforcing truss members. The roof support structure includes a header, a roof bow, right and left roof rails, and a center roof support. The trusses form triangular reinforcing structures on the driver-side and passenger-side.

Vehicle roof with truss structure

An improved fuel tank is disclosed that includes a plurality of recessed ribs formed in the fuel tank adjacent a fuel filter. The fuel filter is received in a pocket formed in the lateral side of the fuel tank by a front side wall and rear side wall that extend from the lateral side to a recessed wall. The ribs include an inner portion, a transverse portion and an outer portion. The recessed ribs have upper and lower walls that converge toward a base wall.

Fuel tank with stiffening ribs in a pocket for the fuel filter

A vehicle frame sub-assembly including a hinge pillar assembly and A-pillar assembly. A high strength hinge pillar reinforcement and A-pillar reinforcement are provided to increase the support in roof crush tests. Collision impact loads are transferred through an upper load path, lower load path, upper intermediate load path, and lower intermediate load path. A back-up rail receives loads from the front rail. The back-up rail transfers loads to the rocker and through a back-up rail extension to the hinge pillar assembly. An upper intermediate load path transfers loads from the upper rail through a fork rail to the hinge pillar assembly.

Vehicle frame with offset load path to a hinge pillar and rocker

A structural joint is formed between the upper frame rail, which bends downwardly to define a generally vertically extending portion, and a generally fore-and-aft extending lower frame rail that can increase bending resistance without sacrificing crash energy management of the horn section of the lower frame rail. The structural joint is reinforced with a crushable tubular reinforcement member formed in a clamshell configuration that includes a forwardly extending support arm positioned beneath the horn section to lower the center of gravity of a downwardly angled horn section to prevent premature bending thereof when encountering crash energy from a frontal impact. The horn section is formed in a pre-folded configuration to enhance the crash energy management of the horn section. The tubular reinforcement provides a double cell structural configuration adjacent the structural joint to provide a crushable structural joint that enables an effective management of crash energy.

Double cell crushable joint for automotive front end

Growing community of inventors

Schererville, IN, United States of America

Viktor Kostrominov