WASHINGTON, June 25,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- GM Defense, a subsidiary of
General Motors, is providing commercial battery electric technology
in support of the University of Texas at
Arlington (UTA) Pulsed Power and Energy Laboratory (PPEL)
and Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia Division (NSWCPD).
The project, Evaluation of Electric Vehicle Batteries to Enable
Directed Energy (EEVBEDE), is funded by the Operational Energy
Innovation office of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), through
its Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund (OECIF). UTA
PPEL will evaluate the technology to understand current
capabilities of commercial automotive batteries under dynamic
discharge and charge scenarios. The team's evaluation of the
technology will help provide pathways and options for domestically
supplied energy storage for future use in military platforms.
GM Defense is leveraging GM's Ultium Platform propulsion
architecture, for evaluation and testing. The Ultium Platform can
deliver power, range and scale beyond any previous GM hybrid or
extended range EV technology. Modular and scalable, the Ultium
Platform can use different chemistries and cell form factors,
making it adaptable to changing needs and new technology insertions
as they become available. Utilizing the battery technologies of its
parent company, GM Defense can help solve the DoD's energy and
energy storage challenges. The work performed in this new effort
will provide insights into the performance and design
considerations when batteries are used in more dynamic, high-power
operations than would be faced by more typical applications. OECIF
support plays a key role in the development of new power and energy
technologies, which provide the DoD with advanced capabilities and
help prevent power and energy from being a limiting factor.
"The Department of Defense can benefit from billions of dollars
in GM investments to develop and manufacture transformative battery
technologies," says Steve duMont, president of GM Defense. "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."
"We are excited to work with GM Defense to test the Ultium
Platform to determine its potential for use in future warfighting
applications. PPEL has a long relationship with the DoD and the
Office of Naval Research for testing the limits of batteries used
in high power applications, and we are in a unique position to
evaluate this technology and make recommendations for future use
cases," said David Wetz, a professor
of electrical engineering at UTA and director of the PPEL.
"As a Carnegie R-1 university, UTA is committed to working
with industry to better develop and understand the potential of new
technology. This collaboration between PPEL, GM Defense and the DoD
will not only improve our nation's military capabilities, but also
adds to our workforce development efforts producing next generation
engineers who will solve our nation's complex problems," said
Peter Crouch, dean of UTA's College
of Engineering.
GM Defense previously announced its participation in the
Defense Innovation Unit's Jumpstart for Advanced Battery
Standardization (JABS) project. Similar to EEVBEDE, JABS is
designed to evaluate and test high voltage battery systems to
optimize commercial technologies. GM Defense provided a prototype
of a battery system based on GM's Ultium Platform for the project.
Under the same contract, GM Defense demonstrated mission power
capabilities by integrating a high-voltage battery pack into a
light tactical utility vehicle. Key learnings from JABS will help
inform the integration requirements of future battery electric
defense solutions. To learn more about GM Defense projects, visit
www.gmdefensellc.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
About GM Defense LLC
GM Defense delivers integrated vehicles, power and propulsion,
and autonomy and connectivity solutions to global defense, security
and government markets. The exceptional reliability of GM Defense's
technologies results from decades of proven performance and
billions of dollars spent in independent research and development
by its parent, General Motors, a world leader in global design,
engineering and manufacturing capabilities. For more information,
please visit www.gmdefensellc.com.
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SOURCE GM Defense LLC