{"id":63180,"date":"2022-10-11T17:48:21","date_gmt":"2022-10-11T17:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2022\/10\/11\/heres-what-industry-is-offering-to-meet-armys-electric-vehicle-needs\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:44:09","slug":"heres-what-industry-is-offering-to-meet-armys-electric-vehicle-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/industry\/techwatch\/2022\/10\/11\/heres-what-industry-is-offering-to-meet-armys-electric-vehicle-needs\/","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what industry is offering to meet Army\u2019s electric vehicle needs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 For the defense industry, creating hybrid and fully electric vehicles for the U.S. Army isn\u2019t about being eco-friendly: it\u2019s about making soldiers more lethal and survivable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trucks increasingly feature radars, radios, weapons and other power-hungry mission modules. The Army wants the ability to operate quietly and to lessen its heat signature, pointing toward battery power rather than a running motor. And the less troops rely on refueling, the more agile they are during operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To bring these benefits and more to the battlefield, GM Defense is taking a swing at fully electric vehicles. With parent company General Motors making a $35 billion investment in the underlying technology for its Ultium base platform used in commercial vehicles, GM Defense President Steve duMont said he can leverage that work for the Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The All-Electric Military Concept Vehicle features GM\u2019s high-volume battery technology. (GM Defense)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After GM Defense won the Infantry Squad Vehicle contract in 2020, the company used its own research and development dollars to rip out the internal combustion engine and put in a fully electric motor. That\u2019s still an internal effort, but the company sold a Hummer EV to the Army so the service can begin testing the Ultium technology in a tactically relevant environment, duMont said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He believes it\u2019s \u201cinevitable\u201d the Army will get to an all-electric fleet due to the operational benefits. But he acknowledged there\u2019s not much of an infrastructure yet to recharge these vehicles at the tactical edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That leads him to two ideas: GM Defense and its partners can pursue hybrid technologies as a steppingstone, and they can pursue concepts to bring power to the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plasan North America\u2019s All-Terrain Electric Mission Module, or ATeMM, seeks to address both. The modules can be remotely controlled or towed behind a lead vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Cavedo, the company\u2019s president, said ATeMM started as an effort to create a smart trailer that could better traverse tough terrain under its own power behind a lead vehicle. It morphed into something much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am quite convinced that this can replace towed generators, this can replace towed trailers, this can potentially augment or replace some of the Robotic Combat Vehicle-Light platforms that people are looking at. So I think this is really a multitool,\u201d Cavedo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GM Defense is eyeing the trailer as a means to recharge all-electric vehicles in the field. But Cavedo said the ATeMM has the potential to become a mobile microgrid as well, or to convert gas-powered vehicles into hybrids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our unique ATeMM, the only robotic platform that solves the problem of how to bring the platform to the field, is on display at the GM Defense stand at #AUSA2022<\/a>, demonstrating its exportable power capability pic.twitter.com\/vk3i561KBF<\/a><\/p>— Plasan (@Plasan_Int) October 10, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote>