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US Army Unveils Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the we-look-for-things-things-that-make-us-go dept.

Gary writes to mention that the U.S. Army recently unveiled a new hybrid-electric propulsion system for use in a new line of manned ground vehicles (MGVs). The new line will have eight different variants, all using the same chassis. The unique feature of the new MGVs is that the traditional engine has been decoupled from the drive train and is used only to recharge the battery and power other systems within the vehicle.

7 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Silence is golden by schwit1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Being able to roll into your position quietly is a huge advantage. This was learned when Strykers replaced Bradleys when doing insurgent sweeps. The bad guys weren't aware nearly as soon.

    1. Re:Silence is golden by ScentCone · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Or as more frequently seems to have been the case, civillians got an even bigger surprise than usual.

      Civilians certainly haven't been surprised to have armed insurgents forcing them to shelter them (or in some cases, happily sheltering them). If it's coming as a surprise that sometimes those insurgents will be attacked wherever they happen to have set up shop (and now, with a greater element of surprise), one advantage of that is... exactly what's now happening more frequently: the civilians are providing intel on the insurgents so that they no longer have to themselves be at risk by having those snakes store weapons in and operate out of their neighborhoods. It's a shame when an insurgent's choice of schoolyard-as-mortar-position tends to draw fire into neighborhoods (which they do very much on purpose, of course), but as we're seeing in lots of towns in Iraq, the locals are getting sick of it, and the insurgents are having a harder time finding quiet places from which to operate. Hence the need for more sophisticated support. Hence the Iranian involvement being more and more important to the insurgents. Hence the fit being pitched from Iran this weekend, as their tactics are being described for what they are.

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  2. only the paint is green by spectrokid · · Score: 3, Insightful

    hybrid or not, this thing is going to pull around a gazillion tons of steel. Tanks are heavy, strong, maneuvrable. They are NOT green. I guess the idea has more to do with being able to drive in "stealth mode" for a couple of hundred meters.

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    10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then

    1. Re:only the paint is green by couchslug · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It does have to do with reducing fuel consumption, which is a huge logistics burden.

      The systems previously developed (this research predates FCS by many years) will go far more than a few hundred meters on batteries alone.
      Now that decent batteries are available, a hybrid AFV looks much better. They can easily drive heavy electrical loads to provide both weapon system and facility power, they can charge each other via slave cables, they provide full torque at zero RPM allowing very slow creep, and if properly sealed can be used for marine assault and fording rivers (even fully submerged with no snorkel) without fear of drowning out (and destroying) a diesel engine.

      This tech will give a huge boost other systems that would benefit from hybridization. Efficient small turbines like Capstone are already charging hybrid buses. These systems can burn clean fuels at optimum rpm, charge batteries, and make for very eco-friendly farm and construction equipment in the future.

      --
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    2. Re:only the paint is green by Knacklappen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, that and the possiblitiy of acutally saving some fuel along the way. For the US Army, shipping fuel to all the remote locations where they are waging a war is a logistic nightmare at a huge cost.

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    3. Re:only the paint is green by fm6 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Green is relative. Tearing up the landscape with tracked vehicles and tossing supersonic projectiles around is not very green. But if the vehicles use less fuel and the projectiles are made of non-toxic substances (lead bullets are a big environmental hazard) warfare is a little greener than it was before.

      However, I would guess the military's main concern is not the environment, it's logistics. The supply infrastructure needed to keep all those vehicles gassed up is mind-boggling. The less fuel a vehicle uses, the easier it is to keep it going.

  3. Fuel worries by wonkavader · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why don't we just invade some place with a lot of oil, then?

    Oh, wait...