GM Defense is supplying a battery electric solution for a US Department of Defense automotive energy storage research project.
The Evaluation of Electric Vehicle Batteries to Enable Directed Energy (EEVBEDE) explores the capabilities of current automotive battery technologies for future military applications.
For the evaluations, the company will leverage its Ultium EV Platform, a modular design commonly used to build cars, sports utility vehicles, crossovers, and trucks.
The system can be integrated with up to three motors and multiple battery modules to meet the user’s performance, range, and power requirements.
Work for the EEVBEDE project is led by the Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division and the University of Texas at Arlington’s Pulsed Power and Energy Laboratory.
The budget is sourced from the Pentagon’s Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund.
Aiming for ‘Transformative’ Solutions
GM wrote that the EEVBEDE will produce data to sustain the electric battery’s utility on “more dynamic, high power” missions.
Simultaneously, the effort will support the US Department of Defense’s objective to prevent energy and power challenges from becoming “limiting factors” in the armed forces.
“The Department of Defense can benefit from billions of dollars in GM investments to develop and manufacture transformative battery technologies,” GM Defense President Steve duMont stated.
“These technologies offer significant potential to enhance operational capability, whether at the tactical edge or on installations throughout the world. GM Defense welcomes the opportunity to support this important project and to help transition our global defense and government customers.”
Recent Projects
GM Defense’s EEVBEDE participation follows the company’s engagement with a similar military initiative under the US Defense Innovation Unit (DIU).
Called Jumpstart for Advanced Battery Standardization (JABS), the ongoing program seeks commercial battery technologies for testing and analysis to “electrify” US Department of Defense vehicles.
Concurrently, the firm’s parent company signed a contract to deliver an all-electric Hummer system for assessments supporting the US Army’s goals in cutting reliance on fossil fuels.
GM Defense joined another DIU project in 2023 to prototype an expeditionary energy storage unit for warfighter deployment in austere environments.