Patent ID: 8052206

Claim:
A floorboard assembly for a vehicle, comprising: a front floorboard; and a middle floorboard that is connected to the front floorboard in a fixed manner or formed integrally with the front floorboard, wherein: the front floorboard is in a ridge shape with a raised part in the middle and roughly flat parts at opposite sides of the raised part so as to define a substantially longitudinal cavity under the front floorboard; at least a part of the middle floorboard that is longitudinally behind a corresponding one of the roughly flat parts of the front floorboard is raised to be higher than the corresponding flat part of the front floorboard so as to define a substantially latitudinal cavity under the middle floorboard; the substantially longitudinal cavity under the front floorboard and the substantially latitudinal cavity under the middle floorboard are combined into a single chamber for housing a plurality of vehicle batteries, wherein a top view of the chamber has a substantially two-dimensional footprint; and the chamber has a bottom edge and a closed-loop reinforcing beam having the substantially two-dimensional footprint is affixed on the bottom edge of the chamber to protect the plurality of vehicle batteries.