An Analysis of Solar Opportunity Recharging for Electrified Tactical Vehicles

The U.S. Army initiated a shift towards electrifying and hybridizing its tactical vehicle fleet in alignment with its Climate Strategy and global automotive trends. Survey findings indicate a general desire by soldiers for the ability to opportunity charge electrified tactical vehicles, especially in austere locations, with a focus on solar recharging. This study extracts, cleans, and analyzes geo-location data from a training exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA to identify the drive cycles for over 400 tactical vehicles. These drive cycles were then used to estimate the energy consumption per vehicle. The analysis then identifies how much energy can be provided by a 300 W solar blanket, deployed when a vehicle is stationary. The study found that the 300 W solar blanket under ideal conditions could offset approximately 10 percent of the energy required by the average vehicle. As such, solar energy has the potential to be useful for providing small amounts of energy that allow the vehicles to perform short-duration missions and provide power to accessories while idling.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.4271/2024-01-4126
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/01487191
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission of SAE International.
• Authors:
  • Mittal, Vikram
  • Muraco, John
  • Konopa, Bridget
  • Mayfield, Logan
  • Crocker, Matthew
  • Revnew, Luke
  • Miller, Mark
• Conference:
  • 2024 NDIA Michigan Chapter Ground Vehicle Systems Engineering and Technology Symposium
  • Location: Novi Michigan, United States
  • Date: 2024-8-13 to 2024-8-15
• Publication Date: 2024-9-16

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: References;
• Serial:
  • SAE Technical Paper
  • Publisher: Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
  • ISSN: 0148-7191
  • EISSN: 2688-3627
  • Serial URL: http://papers.sae.org/

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Electric vehicle charging; Electric vehicles; Energy consumption; Military vehicles; Solar energy; Vehicle fleets; Vehicles
• Subject Areas: Highways; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01930712
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: SAE International
• Report/Paper Numbers: 2024-01-4126
• Files: TRIS, SAE
• Created Date: Sep 16 2024 4:14PM