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2023-03-22
GM Defense Leads the Way in Electric Vehicles
GM Defense is committed to transitioning its global defence and government customers to a more electric, autonomous and connected future.
The business is well positioned to achieve that mission by leveraging investments from its parent company, General Motors, totalling US$35 billion in electric vehicle and autonomous vehicle technology to deliver modern solutions that enhance warfighter capability.
Electric vehicle technology can offer tactical advantages to the military, such as enabling Silent Watch and Silent Operations with low acoustic and thermal signatures by limiting the heating of engine parts. Moreover, these vehicles provide zero carbon emissions, enabling a more sustainable future.
The business is well positioned to achieve that mission by leveraging investments from its parent company, General Motors, totalling US$35 billion in electric vehicle and autonomous vehicle technology to deliver modern solutions that enhance warfighter capability.
Electric vehicle technology can offer tactical advantages to the military, such as enabling Silent Watch and Silent Operations with low acoustic and thermal signatures by limiting the heating of engine parts. Moreover, these vehicles provide zero carbon emissions, enabling a more sustainable future.
By: Sakha Pramod
In an interview on the sidelines of the IDEX, Steve duMont, President, GM Defense, said: “GM is leading the charge towards all-electric vehicles in our commercial business. My role is to take the technology underpinning that transformation on the commercial side and adapt it for our global defence and government customers.”
ISV: Offering Tactical Mobility and Speed
At IDEX, the company put the spotlight on the hybrid Next Generation Light Tactical Wheeled Vehicle (NGLTWV), which duMont explained, is bridging the gap between gas-powered and fully electric vehicles.
“The NGLTWV will bring the benefit of an advanced battery for silent operation and enables a lot of mission power to support different mission kits, sensors and weapon systems that require power. We still build some of the world’s best gas-powered vehicles and are conscious that not every military will adopt electric vehicles as quickly as others. The NGLTWV will bring us closer to our movement in the direction towards electrified vehicles. I envision a future where we won’t need hybrid anymore because we are building the infrastructure to enable charging even in the tactical battle space, which is a real need for our defence customers. The purpose of the NGLTWV and the Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) is to give the soldiers tactical mobility and speed,” he said.
GM Defense is currently building the ISV for its U.S. Army customer. The light and agile ISV was designed to provide rapid ground mobility for a nine-person infantry squad and their equipment across the battlefield. “When we showed it to the U.S. Army Rangers, they wanted a vehicle with fewer seats and armour. So, that’s where the ISV Heavy Gun Carrier (ISV-HCG) came from. The ISV-HGC maintains many of the attributes of the nine-passenger ISV but seats five passengers and offers the ability to carry weapons. The ISV’s high percentage of commercial-off-the-shelf parts makes it highly flexible so that we can easily adapt it to meet customers’ unique needs. I think ISV is going to change the way that our U.S. Army customer uses mobility to their benefit.”
The ISV has five different variants, and one of them is fully electric, known as the All-Electric Military Concept Vehicle or e-ISV, which is powered by GM’s second generation of battery technology. When it comes to electric vehicles, previously users often faced “range anxiety”, meaning they wouldn’t know how many miles such a vehicle could cover. Another issue was the time it would take to charge such vehicles. Through extensive research and data collected, GM developed state-of-the-art technology in the battery electrochemistry that allows fast charging. “So, you can take a vehicle and plug it in for 10 minutes into a hydrogen generated battery charger, that we also built, to get tactically significant range between 50 to 100 kilometres. The days of having to wait hours to charge vehicles are behind us because the technologies have come so far,” he added.
The company is currently developing the next-gen e-ISV based on third-generation battery technology, which will give the vehicle even more range and performance.
duMont also gave the example of the ISV-2, which was built to carry a NATO standard pallet on the back of it. The vehicle can easily be air deployed with the mission kit being quickly strapped to the back of the vehicle.
GM Defense also has another programme with the U.S. Department of State where it is building a purpose-built SUV. The vehicle leverages the Chevy Suburban and will feature a new and unique body-on-frame chassis and suspension, designed to specifically support increased government vehicle performance requirements with a higher payload capacity and greater ground vehicle weight.
duMont said: “Both the ISV and SUV vehicles have a lot of adaptability for armies and for government use around the world. We are excited to be at IDEX because the U.S. and the Gulf region have a long history of defence cooperation.”
Strategic Partnership
At IDEX, GM Defense and Tawazun signed a collaboration that will enable the business to leverage GM’s advanced commercial technology to meet the needs of defence and government customers in the region, beginning with the UAE.
“This collaboration will allow us to address the entire Middle East region,” highlighted duMont. “There is a lot we can do to help provide the land forces and the governments in the region with great vehicles built on commercial capabilities. We are here to partner with great companies and organisations and are excited about what the future holds.”.
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