Technical Field

The present invention relates to an electric vehicle with front access, i.e., to a vehicle provided with electric batteries and at least one electric motor for the operation of the wheels and which allows getting into same through a front door located in the front of the vehicle, in the direction of travel.

State of the Art

Vehicles with front access are known, with one of the most well-known being the combustion vehicle sold under the trade name ISETTA and provided with four wheels with rear drive and front steering, two front seats accessible through a front door articulated on one side and a steering wheel attached to a steering shaft attached to said front door at its upper end and articulated with respect to the rest of the steering mechanism at its base, such that when the door opens, the steering wheel is moved out of the way, making it easier to get into the vehicle.

This vehicle is very compact, particularly in length, which is equivalent to the width of a conventional vehicle, which allows being parked cross-wise in parking spaces intended for the lengthwise parking of vehicles with a normal length.

As a result of the door with front access, it is possible to park in narrow spaces since the front access makes it unnecessary to leave spaces on the sides to enable opening side doors, as occurs in conventional vehicles.

In recent years, an electric version of said vehicle has also been developed, sold under the trade name MICROLINO. It has identical features, except for the incorporation of electric motors and batteries, and the use of a fixed steering column that is not moved out of the way when opening the front door.

Other vehicles with front access, some only as prototypes, are also known, such as for example the vehicles sold under the trade names HIRIKO and TATA AIRPOD.

HIRIKO is, furthermore, a folding vehicle, provided with a front portion and a rear portion of a chassis which are articulated to one another, allowing the front and rear wheels to be brought closer together by raising the central area of the vehicle, reducing its length. However, the modification of the length does not allow the space of the interior for passengers or for cargo to be increased, simply reducing the length of the vehicle for parking thereof, placing the passengers in a more upright position.

Furthermore, the aforementioned vehicles only have said access through the front door for passengers, only allowing access for a maximum of two passengers sitting in front seats, except the TATA AIRPOD, which also contemplates the passengers accessing rear seats placed facing away from the direction of travel through a door rear.

No vehicles with a front access allowing the interior space to be increased for receiving more cargo or more passengers behind the front seats by means of the extension of the chassis are known.

Telescopically movable extendable vehicles provided with a front portion and a rear portion of the chassis are known. Said known extendable vehicles include front seats accessible through side doors, both when the chassis is in a contracted position and when it is in an extended position.

Some examples of extendable vehicles are described in documents DE4418242A1 , US20110169290 A1 , DE4413970 C1 and EP1167167 A2.

However, in the vehicles described in said documents the front seats are always accessible through side doors, so in the event of parking cross-wise in narrow spaces, with the chassis in the retracted position, said front seats will be hard to access due to the narrowness of the parking space with respect to said side doors.

Furthermore, in these extendable vehicles, the side doors providing access to the front seats have a limited extension that cannot be enlarged as it would interfere with the rear portion of the chassis in the retracted position, and therefore they do not allow a comfortable access, without folding the front seats, to the rear seats with the chassis in the extended position.

The solution commonly used in these extendable vehicles is to include a side door for specifically accessing the rear seats, which is concealed or disabled when the chassis is in the retracted position, and is exposed and enabled when the chassis is in the extended position.

However, this solution requires a considerable extension of the chassis to leave sufficient space for including a wide enough rear door for comfortable access to the rear seats, unnecessarily increasing the total length of the vehicle, or it limits the size of the rear doors, with the access to said rear seats therefore being uncomfortable. The longer the length of the extension, the more complicated the construction is, the heavier it is, and the more expensive the chassis will be.

It is therefore concluded that there is no known telescopically extendable vehicle which offers comfortable side access to the interior space behind the front seats when the chassis is in the extended position, without requiring an excessive extension of the chassis.

Brief Description of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electric vehicle with front access.

Spatial references such as front, rear, side, or the like will be understood as being in reference to the normal direction of travel of the vehicle.

The proposed electric vehicle with front access comprises, in a manner that is known in the state of the art:

• a chassis, containing at least one front seat, provided with a front door for accessing said at least one front seat through a front of the vehicle;

• front wheels and rear wheels;

• at least one electric motor connected to a set of electric batteries fixed to the chassis and operating said rear wheels and/or front wheels.

Therefore, the proposed vehicle consists of a chassis, a drive unit formed by electric batteries, preferably integrated in the base of the chassis constituting the floor of the interior space of the chassis, and at least one electric motor powered by said batteries and operating the rear and/or front wheels.

The chassis surrounds an interior space containing at least one front seat for an occupant, i.e. , at least one seat intended for an occupant, facing the direction of travel of the vehicle. Said interior space is accessible through a front door located in the front of the vehicle in the direction of travel, allowing users to get into or out of the interior space of the chassis through said front of the vehicle.

This makes the access easier for the users of said at least one front seat when the vehicle is parked perpendicular to the curb, i.e., transverse to the direction of circulation, with the front end of the chassis being accessible from the sidewalk, or from a space intended for the pedestrians separated from the circulation lane by the parking lane.

However, said electric vehicle with front access furthermore proposes in a manner that is not known in the available state of the art, the inclusion in the chassis of the following features:

• a front portion, supporting the front wheels, said front door and at least one side door for accessing the inside of the chassis through a side of the vehicle, and

• a rear portion, supporting the rear wheels;

• wherein said front and rear portions of the chassis are partially overlapping and are telescopically movable between a retracted position, to make it easier to park the vehicle, and an extended position increasing the separation between the front and rear wheels, to increase an inner space of the chassis behind said at least one front seat; and in that

• said at least one side door and the rear portion of the chassis are partially superimposed in the retracted position of the chassis, disabling the opening of the mentioned at least one side door, and are not superimposed in the extended position of the chassis, enabling the opening of the mentioned at least one side door, providing access to the interior space of the chassis behind said at least one front seat and also optionally to said at least one front seat.

That is, the chassis will be split into a front portion and a rear portion movably connected to one another in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, allowing the separation existing between the front wheels, connected to the front portion of the chassis, and the rear wheels, connected to the rear portion of the chassis, to be changed.

The connection between the front portion and rear portion will be done through an extending mechanism which will block the relative position between the front and rear portions, except during the extension or retraction operations of the chassis. The blocking between the front and rear portions of the chassis will be sufficient for withstanding impacts received by the chassis in the event of an accident without causing the front and rear portions to collapse or to improperly separate from one another.

Said extending mechanism will typically also include longitudinal guiding elements both in the front portion and in the rear portion, inserted in one another, which allows a guided longitudinal movement between both portions. Said guiding elements may be located at the base of the chassis, and preferably also on parts of the sides and/or the roof of the chassis.

The front and rear portions of the chassis will be partially overlapping both in the retracted position and in the extended position, with the largest overlap being in the retracted position.

The front portion of the chassis also includes at least one side door, accessible from a side of the vehicle, which will provide access to the interior space of the chassis.

Said at least one side door has a size such that the opening covered by said side door, and the side door itself, is partially covered by part the rear portion of the chassis, the chassis being in the retracted position, preventing it from opening.

When the chassis is in the extended position, the opening covered by the side door, and the side door itself, are completely free of the rear portion of the chassis, without any overlap, allowing the opening of said side door and the access to the interior space through same.

The blocking of the side door in the retracted position is not any drawback, because in the retracted position the vehicle only has front seats, which are more readily accessible through the front door when parking the vehicle perpendicular to the curb when it is in the retracted position.

At the same time, said configuration allows a large side door which, in the extended position of the chassis, allows comfortable access to the interior space of the chassis located behind the at least one front seat by performing a minimum extension of the length of the vehicle. Said side door can also simultaneously allow comfortable access to the front seats.

Therefore, this configuration allows going from a vehicle provided with only front seats, which has a small length and can therefore be parked perpendicular to the curb in spots usually provided for parallel parking, with said front seats being accessible through the front door, to a vehicle with front seats and with rear seats, which has a longer length and therefore must be parked in parallel, the rear seats and optionally also the front seats therefore being accessible through the side door. This allows achieving better accessibility both in the retracted position and in the extended position.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the vehicle may include an operating control lever or a steering wheel for controlling the operation of the vehicle, accessible from said at least one front seat, which will constitute a driving seat.

Preferably said chassis will contain two front seats. In such case:

• said operating control lever may be located in a central position between said two front seats, one of them constituting a driving seat; or

• said steering wheel may be opposite one of said front seats, constituting a driving seat; or

• said steering wheel may be articulated between an operative position opposite one of said front seats, constituting a driving seat, and an inoperative position not opposite either of said front seats, making access through the front door easier.

It is also proposed for the interior space of the chassis, behind said at least one front seat, to be able to contain, in the extended position, at least one rear seat, or preferably two or three rear seats.

According to an embodiment of the invention, said chassis will contain two front seats, and the chassis will include two side doors on opposite sides thereof.

In such case, the interior space of the chassis behind said two front seats will contain at least two rear seats, accessible through the two side doors.

The front door preferably contains a windshield and is articulated by an upper part to the front portion of the chassis. Said front door therefore opens upwards, leaving free access to the front seats.

Each side door may incorporate a transparent panel, typically in its upper half and preferably made of glass, and articulated by a front portion to said front portion of the chassis. The articulation in the front portion allows opening the side door of the vehicle by swiveling it outwards.

The transparent panel can be retractable, i.e., it can be concealed within the nontransparent part of the side door. Said transparent panel will be partially covered by said rear portion of the chassis in the retracted position.

The chassis includes a reversible bidirectional extending mechanism which, responding to an actuator, provides the telescopic movement of said front and rear portions of the chassis.

Said extending mechanism comprises a rack and pinion assembly integrated in the floor of the chassis and said actuator is a manually operated lever accessible from said at least one front seat or an automatic electric actuator, such as an electric motor for example.

According to another embodiment, said at least one electric motor is comprised of at least two independent electric motors, each connected to one of the rear wheels. The independent operation of each of the rear wheels allows the steering of the vehicle to be controlled.

In such case, said front wheels can lack steering, i.e. , they cannot rotate about a vertical shaft, changing the direction thereof, lack steering and have a smaller width than the rear wheels, or lack steering and said at least one electric motor may also include two independent electric motors, each connected to one of the front wheels.

The distinguished operation of the wheels of opposite sides of the vehicle allows rotations to be produced without needing the front wheels to be provided with steering, for large turning radii the lack of front steering does not entail any problem, and for very small turning radii, the smaller width of the front wheels exceptionally allows the wheels to skid sideways during very sharp turns at a very low speed. An electronic limiter is also proposed to be included which limits the maximum turning radius of the vehicle to prevent or minimize said sideways skidding, or to adapt the turning radius allowed based on the speed of the vehicle, thereby allowing the vehicle to be able to dispense with steering in all the wheels of the vehicle, lessening costs and resulting in a more reliable and more compact vehicle.

The inclusion of at least one rear hatch providing access, through the rear of the vehicle, to the mentioned interior space of the chassis behind said at least one front seat is also proposed.

Said at least one rear hatch may also include a rear window.

The at least one rear hatch includes an upper hatch consisting of or integrating a rear window, articulated by an upper part to the rear portion of the chassis, and a lower hatch articulated by a lower part to the rear portion of the chassis.

Preferably, the electric batteries are entirely supported in the front portion of the chassis. According to another embodiment, the front wheels, or wheel arches, integrated in the chassis, containing said front wheels, protrude towards the front with respect to a central region of the front of the chassis containing the front door, acting as a bumper.

It is also proposed for the front portion and the rear portion of the chassis, in the retracted position, to be outwardly flush with one another, part of the front portion being contained within the rear portion. Aerodynamic friction of the assembly in the retracted position is thereby minimized.

Other features of the invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of an embodiment.

Brief Description of the Figures

The aforementioned and other advantages and features will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of an embodiment in reference to the attached drawings which must be interpreted in an illustrative and non-limiting manner, wherein:

Figure 1 shows a schematic side view of the vehicle with the chassis in the retracted position, with the front door open;

Figure 2 shows a schematic side view of the vehicle with the chassis in the extended position, with the front door open;

Figure 3 shows a schematic plan view of the vehicle with the chassis in the retracted position;

Figure 4 shows a schematic plan view of the vehicle with the chassis in the extended position, with a side door open;

Figure 5 shows a schematic perspective view of the vehicle with the chassis in the retracted position;

Figure 6 shows a schematic perspective view of the vehicle with the chassis in the extended position;

Figure 7 shows a schematic perspective view of the vehicle with the chassis in the retracted position, with the front door open;

Figure 8 shows a schematic perspective view of the vehicle with the chassis in the extended position, with the side doors open; Figure 9 shows a schematic perspective view of the vehicle with the chassis in the retracted position, with the rear hatch open.

Detailed Description of an Embodiment

The appended figures show illustrative non-limiting embodiments of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a vehicle with two front wheels 31 and two rear wheels 32 attached, by means of an interposed suspension, to a chassis 10 that surrounds an interior space of the vehicle.

The chassis 10 and front wheel 31 and rear wheel 32 assembly defines a direction of travel of the vehicle, which determines a front, a rear and two sides of the vehicle, where those elements of the vehicle closest to the front of said vehicle are front elements, and those elements closest to the rear of the vehicle are rear elements.

The chassis 10 has a floor where electric batteries are integrated, and each of the rear wheels 32 is operated by means of an independent electric motor, for example, an electric motor integrated in the drum of the wheel, connected to the rest of the vehicle through the suspension.

The independent operation of each of the rear wheels 32 allows the steering of the vehicle to be controlled.

Within the interior space defined by the chassis 10 there are two front seats 41 , one next to the other, in the direction of travel of the vehicle.

An operating control lever 50, or a steering wheel, accessible from one of said front seats 41 , constituting the driving seat, is also included.

According to the example shown in the figures, the operating control lever 50 is located between the two front seats 41 , being accessible from both.

The use of a fixed steering wheel, or a steering wheel attached to the end of an articulated arm which, in the operative position is opposite one of the front seats, said seat constituting the driving seat, is alternatively contemplated.

Behind the front seats 41 the rest of the interior space, located behind said front seats 41 , is a cargo space or contains two or three rear seats, also next to one another and in the direction of travel of the vehicle. The chassis 10 is an extendable chassis, formed by a front portion 11 and a rear portion 12 that are telescopic in the direction of travel and partially overlapping.

The front portion 11 supports the front wheels 31 and the electric battery 70 or part thereof, the rear portion 12 supports the rear wheels 32 and their electric motors, and both front portion 11 and rear portion 12 are attached to one another by means of sliding guides and a bidirectional extending mechanism which allows regulating the movement of the front portion 11 with respect to the rear portion 12 between a retracted position, in which the distance between the front wheels 31 and rear wheels 32 is minimum, and an extended position in which the distance between the front wheels 31 and rear wheels 32 is maximum.

The extending mechanism is also responsible for setting the position between the front portion 11 and rear portion 12 when the extension or retraction of the chassis 10 ends, the front portion 11 and rear portion 12 assembly being fixed so as to be resistant to impacts without collapsing.

The extending mechanism is operated by means of an actuator 61 , for example, a rack and pinion assembly operated manually or by means of an electric motor.

Other extending mechanisms are also contemplated, such as a screw mechanism.

Said extending mechanism is integrated in the base of the chassis 10, and the manual operating element is located between the two front seats 41 .

The front portion 11 of the chassis 10 also includes a front door 20 which allows the front seats 41 to be accessed through the front of the vehicle, and two side doors 21 which allow the rear seats 42 or cargo space located behind the front seats 41 to be accessed, in the extended position of the chassis 10, through the sides of the vehicle, and also allowing the front seats 41 to be accessed.

The front door 20 includes the windshield of the vehicle and is articulated by an upper end to the front portion 11 of the chassis, which allows opening the door by swiveling it upwards.

The side doors 21 include a transparent panel in their upper half, which could be at least partially retractable into the side door 21 . Each side door 21 will be articulated by a front end to the front portion 12 of the chassis 10, which allows opening the door by swiveling it. The side doors 21 have a considerable size, which covers most of the sides of the front portion 11 of the chassis 10 such that, when opened, it provides a large access to the interior space of the chassis 10, both to the front seats 41 and to the rear seats 42, or to the cargo space.

Each side door 21 includes a portion which, in the retracted position of the chassis 10, overlaps the rear portion 12 of the chassis 10, preventing it from opening and disabling it. Preferably said portion of the side door 21 is located inside the rear portion 12 of the chassis 10, covering its outer handle.

In the extended position of the chassis 10, the side doors 21 do not overlap the rear portion 12 of the chassis 10, being completely accessible and the opening thereof being allowed.

The inclusion of a rear hatch 22 providing access to the interior space through the rear of the vehicle for accessing the cargo space is also proposed.

The rear seats 42 can be folded, allowing a very compact retracted position of the chassis, or allowing the entire interior space behind the front seats 41 to be used as a cargo space, both in the retracted position and in the extended position of the chassis.

In one embodiment, both the front wheels 31 and the rear wheels 32 lack steering, with the steering of the vehicle being controlled by the independent operation of the wheels on opposite sides the vehicle, for example, the rear wheels 32.

In the case of turns with a wide radius, the lack of steering does not represent any problem, and in cases of turns with a small radius, it is proposed for the front wheels 31 to have a smaller width than the rear wheels 32, allowing in extreme cases and at a low speed, such as in parking maneuvers, the side skidding of the front wheels 31 to occur.

It is also proposed for each of the front wheels 31 to include an independent electric motor, its operation combined with the operation of the rear wheels 32 allowing a precise control of the steering of the vehicle.

The inclusion of steering in the front wheels 31 is also evidently considered.

A control device is configured to brake the front wheels 31 and to unbrake the rear wheels 32, or vice-versa, during the movement between the retracted position and the extended position, and optionally to actuate the unbraked wheels to facilitate or to produce said movement.