US military vehicles go electric

It is not just tree-huggers who are embracing electric vehicles: the US Army has several in the pipeline. This means opportunities for energy storage companies, such as Saft, which has just been awarded USD$1.3 million from weapons manufacturer BAE Systems.

The funding is for the continued development of a Lithium-ion energy storage system for the US Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle programme. Saft, which is designing and building ultra-high-power cells for the vehicle’s hybrid electric drive system, has already completed the demo battery system including hardware and software, says the company.