Battery box with a circulating flow channel

Battery box for a plurality of electrochemical cells which are arranged in rows, with individual cells in each row being disposed one behind the other, and a circulating-flow channel being formed between housings of adjacent cells within each row by a spacing of said adjacent cells from one another, through which circulating-flow channels a fluid can flow, said circulating-flow channels all being fluidically connected to an inlet channel which tapers in the flow direction and is arranged in the vicinity of a box bottom, and to an outlet channel which expands in the flow direction and is arranged in the vicinity of a box lid, wherein the side walls of the battery box are provided with a step-type ledge for the staggered vertical arrangement of cells within each row, the bottoms of said cells being positioned on said steps, the slope of said ledge corresponding in magnitude and direction to the taper of the inlet channel on the bottom side, and the step dimension of the step form of the ledge corresponding to the depth of a cell plus the corresponding width of the spacing between adjacent cells within each row, which forms the circulating-flow channel.