Rear vehicle-body structure

A rear vehicle-body structure for an electric vehicle which includes a traveling motor and in which a battery supplying electric power to the traveling motor is disposed below a floor panel, the rear vehicle-body structure comprising:

• a rear side frame which extends in a vehicle front-rear direction in a vehicle rear portion;
• a rear-side cross member which is arranged such that a front portion of the rear side frame abuts the rear-side cross member from vehicle rear, the rear-side cross member extending in a vehicle width direction;
• a pair of left and right side sills which are spaced apart, by predetermined distances, from the front portion of the rear side frame to vehicle-width-direction outer sides and extend in the vehicle front-rear direction;
• and
• a rear-side battery frame which extends in the vehicle width direction in the vehicle rear of the battery and in vehicle front of the rear side frame and protects the battery, wherein
• a battery casing which includes the rear-side battery frame is mounted on the left and right side sills and on the rear-side cross member,
• wherein the battery is installed in an area on the vehicle-width-direction outer side of an imaginary straight line, the imaginary straight line extending forward from a central portion, in the left-right direction, of the front portion of the rear side frame toward the vehicle front,
• wherein in a vehicle side view, the battery is installed to an area in the vehicle rear of rear portions of the side sills,
• wherein the rear-side cross member has a front plate portion and a rear plate portion that form a closed cross-section, and has a lower plate portion extending from a lower end of the front plate portion to a lower end of the rear plate portion such that the closed cross-section protrudes downward, and the rear-side cross member is formed to be arranged on an upper surface of the rear-side battery frame and to extend along the upper surface of the rear-side battery frame, and
• wherein the rear-side cross member and the rear-side battery frame are fastened together in an up-down direction at the lower plate portion without an intermediate bracket therebetween, and the front portion of the rear side frame is not joined to the side sills.