Electric motor vehicle

Claim 1

A motor vehicle including road engaging wheels and power means for driving at least one of said wheels and further including in combination with said wheels and power means: an occupant compartment having a base structure forming a platform for the compartment and spaced apart flanges adjacent to the front and rear edges of the platform; a pair of main frame members extending in spaced apart generally parallel relation for a substantial portion of the longitudinal dimension of the motor vehicle and lying in a plane so as to have a slidable fit through at least one of the downwardly directed platform flanges and extending at least part way toward the opposite platform flange; said main frame members supporting the occupant compartment and in turn being supported by the road engaging wheels; means rigidly secured to that section of each main frame member under the compartment platform and forming a surface spacingly confronting at least one of the platform flanges; and certain of the intervening spaces between the platform flanges and confronting surfaces of said rigidly secured means being substantially fully occupied by compressible energy absorbing material whereupon slidable movement of the platform relative to the frame members in the direction to compress such energy absorbing material will cushion the shock of a collision impact between the motor vehicle and an external object; and means is provided for releasably holding the platform against sliding movement on the main frame members except in the event of a severe collision impact at which time the holding force will give way and permit the platform to slide longitudinally on the main frame members thereby compressing the energy absorbing material and absorbing part of the energy resulting from such an impact.