Patent ID: 8475951

Claim:
A battery unit for vehicles comprising: a plurality of batteries, a battery container, each battery having a pair of terminals comprised of a positive terminal and a negative terminal, said pair of terminals projecting in the same direction from a surface of the battery container, and first connecting members that connect positive and negative terminals of adjacent batteries for connecting the plurality of batteries electrically, wherein, the plurality of batteries are installed with the terminals and the surface of the battery container facing in the same direction, the terminals and the first connecting members are cooled or heated by a heat carrier that flows along the surface of the battery container in a flow direction parallel to a line extending between the terminals of each said pair of terminals of said installed batteries, and the battery unit for vehicles further comprises an insulating member having no electrical conductivity that extends in a longitudinal direction that is parallel to the flow direction, said insulating member projecting from a same side of the battery container as said pair of terminals, and said insulating member projecting in the same direction that said pair of terminals project from the surface of the battery container, the direction in which the pair of terminals and the insulating member project being perpendicular to the flow direction and being perpendicular to the longitudinal direction in which the insulating member extends, the insulating member being disposed between the first connecting members that are electrically connected to different sets of adjacent batteries.