Hybrid Electric Vehicles: Battlefield ‘Islands of Power?’

By Grace Jean

HybridElectric Say the words “hybrid electric drive” and people conjure up associations with fuel-efficient vehicles. But a company working on military applications of such technologies envisions more than a vehicle with better fuel economy — it sees “islands of power” that can benefit the individual soldier by providing all the energy he or she needs in the field.

DRS Technologies has developed a hybrid-electric propulsion system for military humvee trucks that can generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 10 households.

“We recognized a long time ago that one of the benefits of these vehicles is the availability of a large amount of electric power,” says Ken Winters, vice president of business development at the company’s test and energy management plant in Huntsville, Ala.

A conventional humvee produces 2,000 watts of power. The hybrid-electric vehicle generates 75,000 watts of power, and it can achieve a peak of 10 megawatts of pulse power.

For comparison, a single house draws 6,000 to 10,000 watts of power, depending on the size of its air conditioning unit.

“We think it will be a major step forward for the soldier, in that we can create what we call ‘islands of power,’” says Winters. A soldier will no longer have to carry batteries, for example. “He will have the power resident on the vehicle that got him to where he is.”

That capability will enable troops to perform their jobs better and enhance their survivability and effectiveness, he says.

Hybrid electric vehicles can benefit the military by reducing the logistical footprint, allowing power generators to be transported later, if at all, into a fight.

“We’re not saying that we replace all generators. That’s not the issue. But it allows you to change the mix. It means you can bring them out later, or you may not have to have as many, or can combine intrinsic capabilities of these hybrid vehicles with generators so that you get a more optimized overall system. That

is really where the savings is, and that’s the thrust we’ve tried to make over the years,” says Winters.

Interest in hybrid drive vehicles has stalled in part because of the technology’s high price tags. But Winters says efforts are ongoing to bring those costs down.

“We think the objective is to make the vehicle equivalent to what the cost of the vehicle is today, with power generation capability,” he says. If you add the cost of a generator and trailer to cost of a humvee, then that total price is where a hybrid vehicle needs to be equal to or lower in cost, he says.

“We think we will be there,” says Winters. The vehicle’s life cycle cost for the military is very favorable, he

points out.

Though there is no requirement for such a vehicle, the company has pressed onward with its work, providing prototypes for field evaluations.

During a test experiment at Fort Benning, Ga., with an air assault unit, the base camp lost its line power, recalls Winters. DRS had three vehicles running there that generated enough power to keep the experiment in progress.

“That opened a lot of people’s eyes,” he says.

The Army’s Future Combat System will have a fleet of hybrid electric vehicles, but Winters says that technology needs to be pushed out into the force now, so that the basic power distribution capability is present on the battlefield sooner than later.

“It is a challenge to generate requirements for something like this and get the Army acquisition to accept the technology itself and put them in the field. But we think we’re making good inroads,” says Winters.

The technology is mature enough to be fielded, he says.

“We think it’s really going to be a good thing for the soldier. I think it will save a lot of lives when we get done.”

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