Land Force Technical Staff Programme V Course Project Hybrid Electric Vehicle : Application in an Armoured Fighting Vehicle

With cutbacks in defence budgets, military vehicles have advanced beyond acting as merely troop carriers, weapons platforms or supply vehicles. As the philosophy of doing more with less becomes reality, armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) must take on a more multipurpose role by housing sophisticated communications equipment, surveillance and target acquisition components and weapons systems, as well as provide improved mobility, protection and range. The Canadian Forces (CF) have moved from a deployed force to a rapidly deployable force concept, thus, today's AFVs are expected to travel further, operate quieter, and carry more equipment into battle while consuming less fuel and providing soldiers increased protection against more lethal and devastating weapons. In order to achieve these critical requirements, several design factors must be considered. Two areas of potential improvement of today's AFVs are within the mechanical propulsion and electrical systems. The aim of this paper is to provide a recommendation regarding the feasibility of introducing a hybrid electric AFV into the Land Force (LF) vehicle inventory. This paper examines electric and hybrid electric (HE) propulsion alternatives in comparison to the internal combustion engine (ICE). An overview of the electric propulsion concept and current hybrid technology is presented and is followed by a description of present vehicle mobility requirements and performance capabilities. Furthermore, the technical feasibility of an HE propulsion system in an AFV and the implications associated with the introduction of such a powered vehicle are discussed. Overall, this project determined that neither the Canadian Government nor Canadian industry has demonstrated a keen interest in the pursuit of the development of a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). The United States Government and the American automobile industry, on the other hand, are working diligently to improve already developed commercial pattern HEVs, as well as further developing HE military pattern vehicles. It was established that HEV technology, although immature, already exists and that developing or converting existing vehicle platforms to HE is feasible but at this point in time, expensive. The challenge however, rests in the integration, fielding and support of such a unique vehicle platform. Through our research we determined that current battery technology is still evolving and although lead-acid batteries are the commonly used batteries in most vehicles, further study in new energy storage technology should be considered before launching into the production of an HEV. Ultimately, cost appears to be the overriding limitation and therefore, it is necessary for Canadian R&D …