Drive belt assembly for an electric vehicle

A vehicle comprising:

• a frame;
• a powertrain unit coupled to the frame and having an output shaft rotatable in response to operation of the powertrain unit;
• a drive sprocket coupled to the output shaft for rotation therewith;
• a swing arm having a first end pivotably coupled to the frame and a second end supporting a drive wheel of the vehicle;
• a wheel sprocket coupled to the drive wheel for rotation therewith;
• a flexible final drive member wrapped around the drive sprocket and the wheel sprocket to establish a driving relationship therebetween, the flexible final drive member forming a loop;
• and
• a first idler positioned within the loop to intersect a tangent line extending between respective upper portions of the drive sprocket and the wheel sprocket such that an upper run of the flexible final drive member is deflected into a serpentine configuration,
• wherein the first idler is concentric with a swing arm pivot axis about which the swing arm first end is coupled to the frame such that the first idler and the wheel sprocket define a fixed center-to-center distance for the full range of motion of the swing arm.

A vehicle comprising:

• a frame;
• a powertrain unit coupled to the frame and having an output shaft rotatable in response to operation of the powertrain unit;
• a drive sprocket coupled to the output shaft for rotation therewith;
• a swing arm having a first end pivotably coupled to the frame and a second end supporting a drive wheel of the vehicle;
• a wheel sprocket coupled to the drive wheel for rotation therewith;
• a flexible final drive member wrapped around the drive sprocket and the wheel sprocket to establish a driving relationship therebetween, the flexible final drive member forming a loop including a drive side and a slack side;
• and
• an idler positioned below the loop to intersect a tangent line extending between respective lower portions of the drive sprocket and the wheel sprocket such that the slack side of the flexible final drive member is deflected into a serpentine configuration,
• wherein the idler is fixedly positioned relative to the drive sprocket, and
• wherein the idler has an upper extent positioned at a height above the output shaft.