GM’s military vehicle and technology division, GM Defense, has announced a new contract with the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to prototype an energy storage unit to support tactical microgrid and energy management capabilities. The prototype will incorporate GM’s electric vehicle propulsion architecture known as the GM Ultium platform. The new contract follows another DIU contract awarded in the fall of 2022 to provide a prototyping battery system based on the Ultium platform.
“This contract award demonstrates our ability to leverage advanced commercial technologies and investments from our parent company, GM, to reduce warfighter fuel consumption, and lower acoustic and thermal signatures, while providing efficient energy at the tactical edge,” said the president of GM Defense, Steve duMont. “We are proud to win another contract award with DIU, whose mission to accelerate the adoption of commercial technology across the U.S. military aligns with our efforts to transition global defense and government customers to a more electric, autonomous and connected future.”
The new energy storage system will meet the requirements of DIU’s Stable Tactical Expeditionary Electric Power (STEEP) program, which will support tactical microgrid and energy management capabilities in a scalable and adaptable unit, providing an uninterruptible and sustainable power source for mission critical equipment like command and control, communications, radar, and weapons systems. The STEEP energy storage system will draw from hydrogen-powered generators, stationary and mobile electric power, or fuel-powered generators.
GM Ultium battery
The new STEEP contract follows a contract awarded to GM Defense in the fall of 2022 to support the Jumpstart for Advanced Battery Standardization (JABS) project. JABS is designed to standardize battery modules across the DoD, and pave a path forward for future battery advancements and military platform integration. Since the initial contract award last year, GM Defense has expanded to integrate the high-voltage battery into the business’ Multi-Mission and Logistics vehicle.
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Comments
Yeah, cause the army wants what’s basically a phosphorous bomb sitting by command center.
……..and how do we recharge these large battery units?? Bingo! Diesel generators!
I have no problem with intermittently running Diesel Generators to recharge a battery plant… This relieves the generator operator to work on other critical jobs during the time the generator is resting.. And it will most certainly allow increased intervals of scheduled maintenance due to the greatly reduced hours of the generator..
Battery storage is nothing new.. When Buffalo, New York was twice the size it is now, (much more prosperous), the downtown area ran on DC from about 1910-1939. When there was a power failure with the incoming alternating current – strategically located battery substation buildings provided power for all of downtown until the power was restored….
It was very interesting to look at 100 year old books describing this system, which photographs showing the large batteries, with the following caption typically shown:
“This Battery will provide 30,000 amperes at 125/250 volts DC for 5 hours”.
The battery also intrinsically provided EXTRA load capacity since the load could peak in the middle of the day BEYOND the available dc production capacity since the batteries would be allowed to discharge 10 or 15 % to handle the relatively brief huge loading….
So the defense department using such proven (over a century old) technology is not a big deal with me.
I can possibly see some limited use for special ops due to the reduced nose and heat signature. But if the mission runs out of battery charge behind enemy lines you can’t air drop in some extra diesel fuel. I guess they look for the nearest Walmart to plug in? NOT! This is virtue signaling pure and simple.