Are Hybrid/Electric fighting vehicles the inevitable future on the battlefield?
I've noticed a bit of a trend in the defence journals over the past few months, more and more articles highlighting prototype AFVs using 'fuel saving' hybrid drive trains are starting to appear from a wide variety of military manufacturers.
Somehow I missed that memo as when I looked into this the British Army had indeed launched their own battlefield vehicle electrification plans back in September 2021.
Army.MoD.co.uk: Army announces battlefield vehicle electrification plans
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| Above: Soldier’s from the Army Trails and Development Unit (ATDU) are currently working to develop a high output Solar Battery unit. Source: Army.MoD.co.uk |
This is all kinda a bit weird and yet not weird an idea all at the same time as we all know that military vehicles are by their nature gas guzzlers as performance has very much been the primary concern over 'fuel economy'.
For example, the American Abrams tank U.S. has a 'flat' road fuel consumption of an eye-watering 1.85 gallons per mile, while cross-country this jumps to a staggering 3.50 gallons per mile! While the HMMWV utility vehicle has a 'modest' consumption of 10-14 mpg (though I suspect that is one of those over-optimistic manufacturer's brochure figures)!
So, keeping any army on the move is an especially costly effort for a nation. The funny thing is, as hard as it seems to believe in this current uneasy world, our militaries - aside from training - spend most of their time doing mundane peace-time duties. This means they are running their vehicles on guzzle mode 100% of the time when in actuality that could be seen as a waste of a valuable percentage of their precious budget.
It's no wonder someone high up has finally twigged that having a hybrid system which allows the drivers to switch between 'Driving Miss Daisy' to 'Wacky Racers' makes sound sense. However, until now the idea of a suitably robust system, which a sensible military range, has been allusive but it seems that technology is finally catching up with ubiquity.
While still in the realms of 'prototypes' and 'proof of concept' a wide range of world leading defence companies are starting to pop their heads over the parapet with technology demonstrators of 'what might be'.
Where's the Cup Holders and the USB Port?
Now, some might think that this is just jumping on the 'green bandwagon' in a transparent attempt to lure new customers with added value features, but I actually don't think this is just a marketing gimmick (well, not all together).
The thing is - as some geopolitical commentators have been pointing out for years - the 21st century might very well be the beginning of the world wide land grab for dwindling resources and future conflicts may very well be for things like water, climatically safe land and rare energy sources.
In a way this already started in the 20th century with the 'oil wars' but today we see in the Ukraine a war which has energy sources being weaponised and a modern day 'Lebensraum'-like land grab.
In any large scale 'WW3' being able to run your mechanised armies in the face of economic recessions and shrinking resources might very well depend on your military vehicles having a alternative fuel source.
Already the Ukrainian Army is running high mobility electric bikes in order to capitalise on the latest antitank killing man portable NLAWs to blunt a traditional Soviet-style armoured advance.
But just in case you think I'm being a little too 'pro-eco' or optimistic, here's a more balanced look at electric vehicle integration from the US Army's point of view...
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