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Ultra Light Vehicle Research Prototype - A Hybrid Humvee Replacement
The legendary AM General Humvee, popularised by its civilian counterpart, the Hummer, continues to serve the U.S army long after the Hummer was discontinued. And the reason for Hummer's retirement was that the massive SUV was extremely fuel thirsty, almost forcing its production to come to an end.
While the Humvee has survived this long owing to its combat capabilities, its operators have to, in the near future, look towards greener options. And this has to be done without compromising on off-road capabilities and the life saving capacity of the vehicle. Enter, the Ultra Light Vehicle (ULV), a prototype combat vehicle being developed for the U.S military by TARDEC.
The ULV is a hybrid vehicle. That's right. The replacement to the Humvee, if it passes the testing phase, will be a 'green' vehicle that runs on a diesel engine, aided by two electric motors.
Strangely, though the name says Ultra Light Vehicle, it is actually just as heavy as Humvees, about 7 tons. But its power plants generate a lot more power than a Humvee.
The primary powerplant is a turbodiesel engine sourced from Subaru that generates a mere 175 HP and 338 Nm of torque, which could not possibly pull all that weight.
So, aiding the diesel engine are two Remy 410HVH HT electric motors, each of which are capable of generating 268 HP of power continuously and a peak power output of 369 HP. More importantly, the electric motors generate a massive combined torque figure of 1144 Nm continuously, which peaks at 1655 Nm!!
All that power and torque is generated from a 14.2 kWh lithium ion battery that is key to the ULV's operation. The battery is rated at 65 kW of continuous power and 180 kW of peak power.
According to TARDEC the ULV can manage to reach 33 km on electric power alone and has a combined range of 542 km, while travelling at 56 km/h.
Top speed: 120 km/h.
Acceleration: 0 - 48: 5.1 seconds; 0 - 80 km/h:16.2 seconds
The ULV has 18 inches of suspension travel, can also climb down a 40 percent inclination, climb an 18 inch step, climb a 60 percent inclination and do a lot more, which we'll not dwell into here.
A key feature of ULV that we would like to mention is its Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) design which protects its occupants. The design also lacks a drive shaft, thus there's no chance of a broken one in the event of a blast.
Currently undergoing ballistic and explosive testing, the vehicle should soon enter the next phase testing. As for the cost of each unit goes, they could come for under $250,000, which is less by military hardware terms.
Ultra Light Vehicle Research Prototype being put through the trials.
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