Development of body structure for crash safety of the newly developed electric vehicle

An electric vehicle (EV) is promising as clean energy powered vehicle, due to increased interest in fuel economy and environment in recent years. However, it requires to meet unique safety performance such as electric safety and cabin deformation although mass increase of the high-voltage battery compared with the fuel tank. Nissan has developed a new electric vehicle which achieves electric safety and occupant protection performance in addition to maintaining enough cruising distance and cabin space. This was achieved by the development of an all-new platform for electric vehicles. The electric safety was enhanced by the protection of high-voltage components based on consideration of component layout and body structure, high-voltage shutdown by impact sensing system and prevention of short circuit by fuse in the battery. As an example of the protection of high-voltage components, the battery which locates under the floor was protected by elaborative packaging and multi-layer protection structure. In addition, the same cabin deformation as the internal-combustion engine vehicle similar in size in frontal crash was achieved by developing an efficient layout and structure for the motor compartment.