The military’s grand vision of an all-electric fleet of tanks is being stymied by a battery sector that’s not even close to delivering the power the Army needs, according to two Pentagon officials.
The technological challenges mean not a single all-electric fighting vehicle is currently deployed in the field, with the Defense Department hoping intense interest in scaling up batteries for consumer and utility sectors will lead to breakthroughs for the battlefield.
To charge a 50-ton tracked combat vehicle inside the Army’s preferred envelope of 15 minutes, soldiers would need a 17-megawatt charging station—more than 20 times bigger than the largest mobile generator the Army currently has, said Dean McGrew, branch chief for powertrain electrification at the US Army DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center.
“Ideally, we would be able to go to a full electric vehicle, but currently the technology does not exist to generate, store, and distribute power in a tactically relevant amount of time for the frontline troops,” said Lt. Gen. Ross Coffman, who heads up the Army Futures Command’s next generation combat vehicle team.
Electrification may be possible for support vehicles in the rear, but “as far as large, heavy vehicles that can take a punch and throw a punch, the amount of batteries required to do that over great distances—and the ability to charge quickly—is a challenge for us,” Coffman said.
For now, the Army is focused on developing hybrid combat vehicles, which it thinks are “attainable, useful, and can reduce our sustainment footprint,” he said, though no hybrids are deployed in the field either, Coffman said.
The Army does have electric non-tactical Army vehicles at camps and stations to perform tasks such as moving supplies.
The Army wants to field a fully electric tactical vehicle by 2050, and to develop the charging capability to meet those vehicles’ needs by the same date, according to its 2022 climate plan. By 2035, it plans to field a hybrid tactical vehicle and run a fully electric non-tactical fleet.
The focus on electrifying the Army’s fleet is reflected in its expanding budget. In fiscal 2022, the Army spent $47.8 million on EVs, but that figure ballooned to $78.4 million in fiscal 2023. The Army has asked for $270.6 million in fiscal 2024.
The primary reason the Army wants to electrify its fighting vehicles is to reduce wartime casualties. An all-electric fleet would mean personnel wouldn’t have to go on dangerous refueling missions that draw combat forces away from fighting the enemy, Paul Farnan, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy, and environment, said recently.
Electric vehicles are also much quieter and harder to spot on enemy surveillance systems because they generate so little heat, according to Coffman.
Technology Pipeline
Battery research is a prominent example of the opportunities and challenges the military can provide for scaling up clean energy technology. The Defense Department functions as a major source of demand, but it also requires rigorous tests, said Charlie Welch, a battery expert and former military contractor.
While batteries are usually lab-tested in controlled environments, “the military is the total opposite,” Welch said. “Which is, ‘I’m going to take what you’ve proven and put it in the worst-case scenario, day in and day out.’”
Welch spent five years at Northrop Grumman Corp.—the defense and aerospace technology firm that was the first to fly using lithium-ion batteries about 20 years ago—before founding ZapBatt, a startup working on fast-charging battery systems for consumer appliances.
At Northrop Grumman, he studied the Defense Department’s research and development efforts and found the military in recent decades has preferred to partner with tech firms rather than create brand-new technology on its own.
“It’s getting harder for them to do the commercial investment, comparatively to all the commercial interest in batteries,” he said. The department will “take something that’s somewhat proven and then get it more battle-hardened to be able to go in the field.”
ZapBatt, which uses lithium-titanate batteries for consumer products, such as e-bikes, is already piquing the interest of the military, Welch said. ZapBatt batteries can fully charge in under 20 minutes, instead of six to eight hours, last more than 20 years, and can’t catch on fire.
GM Defense, the military subsidiary of General Motors, is investing $35 billion over five years in electric vehicles and battery technologies, said Steve duMont, the company’s president.
He also said the company is in a good position to innovate on military EVs because it has so much experience on the consumer side.
“You have to adapt commercial technology to ensure it meets the mission and warfighter needs, but if I can do that with minimal adaptation, I can heavily leverage the extensive supply chain GM has,” duMont said.
Meanwhile, the Defense Department is doing its own research on advanced batteries, focusing on areas where civilian automakers aren’t, according to Coffman.
“There’s no industry return on investment for taking a 70-ton tank and making it fully electric,” he said.
GOP Resistance
Some Republican lawmakers aren’t sure it’s a good idea to electrify Army tanks.
“I have serious concerns about supply chains and logistics to support eco-friendly military vehicles,” said Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), chair of the House Armed Services’ Readiness subcommittee.
One concern is that the US relies heavily on China and other countries for many of the minerals required to build batteries, “and should we find ourselves in a conflict with the Chinese Communist Party, we will be cut off from these supply chains,” Waltz said.
Another worry is that “there aren’t charging stations in the middle of foreign deserts or mountain ranges,” he said. “Thirdly, I have questions in terms of interoperability without allies. Bottom line is, we should be focused on the most lethal fighting vehicles and not the most eco-friendly. I guarantee you that lethality will be the focus of our adversaries.”
Coffman said he understood at least some of those concerns.
“We have to be mindful of equipping our sons and daughters of this nation with something that’s going to be reliable and useful in the battlefield,” he said. “Right now we’re still learning.”
ENB Top News
ENB
Energy Dashboard
ENB Podcast
ENB Substack