Nikola Reckless UTV: electric vehicle for special forces

In recent years, cars with an electric power plant have become widely spread. In this regard, the appearance of electric vehicles originally intended for armies was obvious and expected. An interesting variant of the army electric vehicle in 2017 was presented by the American company Nikola Motor Company. Based on modern ideas and components, she developed the Reckless UTV multi-purpose buggy.

Consistent development

Nikola Motor Company was founded in 2014 and is based in Phoenix (Arizona). Since its foundation, the company has developed and presented a number of promising electric vehicles of various kinds. One such model was the lightweight multi-purpose SUV Nikola NZT. Subsequently, he became a platform for creating an army vehicle Reckless UTV (Utility Tactical Vehicle).

The military design preserves a lot of features and components of the basic design. At the same time, the design was modified in accordance with the characteristic requirements of army operation. Added devices for mounting military weapons and communications equipment. Also made some other changes.

In the proposed form, Nikola Reckless is an all-wheel drive light car with an open body, equipped with a fully electric power plant. The car can carry up to four people, including the driver, as well as their weapon or comparable cargo. The advantageous combination of high performance on all surfaces and the positive features of an electrical powerplant is expected to interest buyers.

Design features

The Nikola Reckless Buggy UTV has a close to traditional design. In this case, the use of electrical units has led to the appearance of the original layout. In the front and rear parts of the frame are placed two compact engine compartments, between which there is a cabin. The volume under the cabin floor is used to place the batteries. All electrical appliances are isolated, which allows working in different conditions, including in water.

The basis of the power plant is a set of lithium-ion batteries that provide 125 kWh. Accumulators are charged from an available source using a cable and a standard connector on the machine. It is also possible to use a removable solar battery of limited capacity. Depending on the equipment used, charging takes from 2 to 19 hours.

With the help of a set of devices, electricity is converted and supplied to four separate electric motors with a total power of 590 hp. When braking, motors can be used to generate energy and recharge batteries. Each engine with the help of the simplest transmission in the form of a shaft with hinges is connected to its own wheel. At the request of the driver can be implemented wheel formula 4x4 or 2x4.

Both axles of the buggy received an independent lever suspension with spring damping. A suspension travel of 18 inches (mm 457) is provided. The machine is equipped with four wheels diameter 35 inches (889 mm). Front axle is driven. Tires are reinforced with Kevlar.

Nikola Reckless has a four-seater open-top cabin. The cabin received a safety arc and can be equipped with side doors. The driver's seat is equipped with the necessary controls and multifunctional LCD displays. Using the steering wheel, the driver directly controls the turning of the front wheels. The control of the work of four engines is carried out by means of appropriate devices that redistribute electricity in accordance with the commands of the driver.

Next to the driver and behind him are three passengers. Above the rear engine compartment has a shelf for cargo. The payload reaches 570 kg. It is possible to tow a trailer weighing at least 1300 kg. Installation of the electric winch is provided.

Electric Reckless UTV is intended for the army, and therefore can be equipped with weapons. The prototype was equipped with several machine guns. One of the installations was placed on a bracket on a safety arc. At the front passenger and left rear seats there are devices for mounting two more machine guns. An experienced Reckless weapon’s ammunition was placed on a cargo platform with feed to machine guns along flexible hoses.

Depending on the wishes of the customer, other weapon configurations are possible. It is also possible to install various additional equipment, corresponding to the tasks of the machine.

The total length of the electric buggy Reckless UTV is about 4 m. The width and height are slightly more than 1,8 m. Curb weight is 2890 kg. The maximum speed is declared at the level of 95 km / h, the power reserve is up to 320 km. The use of direct wheel drive provides good dynamic performance. Massive batteries shift the center of gravity down and improve stability. Sealing electrical units allows fording fords to a depth of 1 m. An important feature of an electric vehicle is its low traffic noise.

In search of a customer

For the first time, Nikola Motor Company unveiled its new project Reckless UTV in December of 2017. In February 2018, the first public demonstration of an experienced buggy took place at one of the American exhibitions. Later, the car was demonstrated several times to specialists and the public. She attracted attention, and this allows the developer to expect the appearance of the first orders.

The armies of different countries can act as customers. Light motor vehicles capable of carrying several people and some cargo may be of interest to special forces or other similar structures designed to solve special tasks. Currently, buggies are used as a light patrol vehicle for working in difficult conditions far from the front edge.

Thus, the car Nikola Reckless UTV corresponds to the current concept, which allows him to enter the market and wait for the appearance of orders. At the same time, an electric car has characteristic advantages and disadvantages that can interest or deter a buyer. A machine with electric power units can outperform samples with traditional internal combustion engines or lag behind them.

One of the main advantages of an electric vehicle is noiseless engines. This feature drastically reduces the likelihood of finding the vehicle and its crew, which can be useful in various circumstances. The special layout of the machine and the architecture of the power plant can improve throughput and other characteristics.

The main disadvantages of Reckless UTV are also related to the electrical power plant. The system with batteries and four separate motors is significantly more expensive than traditional internal combustion engines and transmissions. The limitations imposed by the battery parameters have a negative effect on the power reserve. In addition, the car turns out to be much heavier, and a substantial part of the stock of carrying capacity goes to transport heavy batteries.

Car of the future

Currently, Nikola Motor Company is accepting orders for its electric vehicles of various models, including the army buggy Reckless. The cost and delivery time in open sources have not yet appeared. Apparently, such features of future contracts will be determined in the course of negotiations with specific customers.

However, there are data on other samples. Thus, the car Nikola NZT, which served as the basis for Reckless UTV, after the start of mass production will cost at least 80 thousand US dollars - depending on the configuration. Production of NZT machines is scheduled to begin in 2021. It can be assumed that the military buggy will not be significantly cheaper than a civilian vehicle and will go into the series no earlier than it.

Thus, if the new electric car Nikola Reckless UTV and goes to the series for the supply of an army, it will happen not today and not tomorrow. However, this can hardly be considered a problem. The company-developer has a serious time margin for the further development of the project before the launch of the series. If the next few years will be used wisely, the Reckless could be the first electric vehicle of its class to be used in the army.

Comments

[Blue fox]

Indeed, it will be much quieter when driving than Chabors, even if the latter is transferred to the muscular drive through pedals. The fervent mothers of the driver and passengers will be carried a considerable distance

[bk316]

Madness.
19 hours of charging
300 km course
speed less than 100 km / h?

li-ion battery, which means that in the cold it loses half the capacity.
li-ion battery, again, how many charge cycles is 500?

And is it for the MTR? For action in the mountains, the desert in the cold?
And the price is $ 80 for a buggy? HOW FOUR HUMI?
Is it an April Fool’s joke or megapopel?

[astepanov]

I will add. The calorific value of gasoline is approximately 10,5 kWh / kg, the efficiency of internal combustion engines is in the region of 40%. Total, we have about 4 kWh per kilogram of gasoline. The best lithium-ion batteries have 0,25 kWh / kg, i.e. 16 times worse than a gas tank. ICE gives free heat for heating the cabin, in an electric car you will be covered from the cold, or mileage from one charge will be sharply reduced. Finally, recuperation does increase mileage - but not more than 30%, but only in the standard urban driving cycle. On rough terrain and on a suburban highway, recovery is of no use. Finally, the operation of an electric car is not cheaper than a car with an internal combustion engine - first of all, due to large depreciation charges, because the battery costs a lot and its life is small. Last thing. A gas tank doesn’t always light up when a conventional bullet or a fragment hits, but a lithium-ion battery will certainly flare up and it’s impossible to put out it. And the size of the battery is larger than the gas tank, at times - respectively, and the probability of being hit is high. Among the combustion products of acetonitrile (the basis of the electrolyte) are such unpleasant things as hydrocyanic acid.
By the way, who will carry the solar battery? And what size should it be? According to my estimates - 120 square meters. meters to charge in 19 hours. Or you need to have a powerful portable DGU. In general, one hemorrhoids.
By the way, almost everything said applies to civilian electric vehicles. On shady routes somewhere in Florida they still look, and here, especially in the winter, there is no sense in them. Yes, and you can’t expect a gain in environmental friendliness from them. Tales of it. Hybrids seem more efficient - but not on batteries.
By the way, I did not understand: who and why put minus bk316? For what? Case man says.

[Horse, people and soul]

It remains to wait for the visit of aliens, and then collect "batteries" for electric vehicles at the place of their picnic.

As in "Roadside Picnic" by the Strugatsky brothers.

[astepanov]

And I’ll add. A heavy battery entails an aluminum frame and body - otherwise the design becomes extremely heavy. Aluminum is again the price. There are many lithium in nature, but there are few rich deposits, and they are almost exhausted - they were eaten by mobile phones and other gadgets. And every electric car requires lithium thousands of times more than a mobile phone. Industry will soon be forced to move to the processing of poor and complex lepidolite mica - and valuable lithium will grow significantly. Finally, in order to recharge the battery, it is necessary to produce and deliver energy, will we need new infrastructure, new power plants, and how to feed them? The same oil and gas? But energy consumption by a herd of cars is comparable to global electricity production. So it’s not too easy with electric cars.

[riwas]

In the program "Black holes. White spots" dated 24.05.2019, it is told about our new development of sodium ion batteries to replace lithium ..

[Horse, people and soul]

For US MTRs, the price of this buggy is not important. Arrived, done business, abandoned. We reached the point of evacuation. All.

But more expensive than electric scooters - that's for sure.

[max702]

Quote: bk316

And the price is $ 80 for a buggy? HOW FOUR HUMI?

Well, you have already bent .. ONE military Humvee costs 250-400 ...

[bk316]

ONE military Humvee costs 250-400 ...

I do not work in the US Treasury.
I use open sources:

After developmental tests, on March 22, 1983, a contract was signed with AM General for the production of 54 cars [973]. The wholesale price was around $ 7. Mass production began in January 22 at the AM General factory in Indiana.

[Operator]

Power - 400 kW, battery capacity - 125 kW * h, driving time - 20 minutes

[Proctologist]

Right. Exactly the same, the gas Bugatti at a speed of 300+ km / h, i.e. at its maximum power, it can drive 20 minutes. The trick of the electric motor is that how much power you ask. At maximum power, the battery lasts 20 minutes, at the minimum necessary for the selected driving mode - much more.

[Kenxnumx]

somehow so perky

[voyaka uh]

We need to start with hybrid cars. On the way
to the enemy - on the internal combustion engine, rapprochement - silent, on electric motors.
Turks seem to have made such an armored personnel carrier? Recently there was an article on VO.

[Proctologist]

I don’t remember the details, but for sure the USA works on such. The benefits are precisely the ones described. Invisibility when approaching. In addition to silence, heat dissipation should also be radically less than ICE - that is, it is possible to make a stealth landing vehicle or tank destroyer. Even an hour in contact can decently pit the enemy. I’m thinking: night, in the infrared spectrum is invisible. There is no noise. How to detect? Spotlight? ..

[cat Rusich]

With a thermal imager - an electric motor is heating up (on the machines behind each fan), RADAR - now there are many compact models of radars, especially for the advanced one (even we have our own development of the 1l271 Aistenok radar)

[tchoni]

Quote: voyaka uh

On the approach
to the enemy - on the internal combustion engine, rapprochement - silent, on electric motors.

This is silly. It’s easier to crush the usual engine with silencers. Hybrids, admittedly, a dead end branch. Too complex design, too not obvious advantages. The usual ICE is equipped with a smart transmission (variator?), Equipped with a silencer (albeit at the cost of some loss of power) is more effective.

[Horse, people and soul]

This, apparently, is a motor-wheel without any transmission and differential axles and universal joints. Motor wheels are controlled directly by a computer.

Or how?

[voyaka uh]

So all electro are. Tesla is so done. Minimum mechanics.
4 wheel motors and batteries. Like a child’s toy.
The cost to the manufacturer is ridiculous.
Vaughn now, Volkswagen completely copied Tesla. And refused
from the production of cars with internal combustion engines. Builds a factory in Germany and two
factory in china. Forget about petrol trade winds and socks.
And laugh more at Ilon Mask.

[Horse, people and soul]

I mean, that hybrids just twist the cardan together with ICE, and full electric cars - immediately the motor wheel.

How many electric cars are already on the market? A few years - for sure, if not a dozen. But there is no breakthrough yet. When trying to make them dense and compact, lithium batteries explode and burn not only in phones, laptops, but also in Tesla.

As soon as there is a mobile and compact light source of electricity, everyone will drive only electric cars.

In the meantime, they are trying this way and that without much success. Because EXPENSIVE.

[Horse, people and soul]

Vaughn now, Volkswagen completely copied Tesla. And refused
from the production of cars with internal combustion engines. Builds a factory in Germany and two
factory in china. Forget about petrol trade winds and socks.

I was in Autostadt last year. Quite 99% of the cars that customers took were diesel and gasoline. And the Folks, and Audi, and Skoda, and the Seats, and even all sorts there, all in diamonds, 16-cylinder Bugatti.

I watched how Folky's robots are assembled in the shops. The beauty!

Well, the European Commission is starting a sabotage against diesel cars - yes. They are going to adopt a law prohibiting the use of diesel cars in the city.

[voyaka uh]

“Quite a 99% of the cars that the buyers took away were diesel and gasoline.
And Folki "////
----
Prices they will not be these last generations of gasoline.
But at some point in the car dealership they will tell you: "there is a wide selection of electric ...
Do you want gas? Special order for special money. And a list of countries where
they are not allowed to enter. "
I do not say whether it is good or bad. It will be so. Because to manufacturers
producing a Tesla with four motor-wheels is several times cheaper than a full one
moving iron frame. And the selling price will not fall.

[dokusib]

A man who argues like this has never been to Siberia. A friend of mine bought a Nissan Leaf for me, all summer I was happy past gas stations, I definitely drove through the facsimile. And then winter came. Almost all the time in the garage (minus 30, you can’t even go to work). In the spring, it turned out that during the winter the battery capacity from such an operation fell by more than 30%, respectively, and the mileage too. Something like that.

[Blackmokona]

Tesla has a thermoregulation system in the battery. There are thirty plus and minus thirty

[dokusib]

I’m more than sure that in a day in a frost of thirty degrees no Tesla will go. But any shushlayka with webasto will go. You only need to put the battery in the heat at night

[Blackmokona]

Will go, there was a report from Russia about it

[dokusib]

Will not go. The laws of physics, even Elon Musk can not cancel. For the battery to work, its temperature must be at least minus 5 degrees. There are new types of batteries that can withstand cooling to minus 20 (Nitecore for example), but they still lose their charge. The electronics may turn on and the battery will warm itself up and accordingly drain, and in the morning it turns out that there is a charge left for 50 km and the stove does not turn on otherwise the mileage will be only 20. So maybe it will go but not very far and the facsimile will not be shown to anyone because the hand to the steering wheel froze. And if you were unlucky and at night the forty-year-old dawanul? Over in Yakutia, a diesel engine is started in the fall and is not turned off until spring. What will happen to Tesla.

[Blackmokona]

What is incomprehensible to you in the phrase built-in thermoregulation?
I.e. a heated battery

[dokusib]

Before you minus the content carefully read? Energy for heating is not taken from nowhere.

[Blackmokona]

It is taken from the batteries, no violation of the law of conservation of energy. And at night, the electric car is usually put on charge.

[dokusib]

In physics, apparently the three were at school? As in Russian.

[cat Rusich]

,, bourgeois ,, will simply raise prices ($) for electricity (who does electricity?)

[astepanov]

Quote: voyaka uh

So all electro are. Tesla is so done. Minimum mechanics.
4 wheel motors and batteries. Like a child’s toy.
The cost to the manufacturer is ridiculous.

From the ridiculous cost of assembly, the price will not be funny. And besides the battery and motor wheels there is still an expensive DC-DC converter.

[voyaka uh]

In fact of the matter. The price for the buyer will remain the same as for gasoline.
And for the manufacturer, the cost is much lower: fewer parts, easier
assembly. Precisely for this reason: the benefit for the MANUFACTURER is the transition
on electric cars is inevitable. Tesla blew up the global market (despite
your debts).
Of the three auto giants, one - Volkswagen - has already surrendered.
Ford - almost gave up.
But number one - Toyota - is still hesitating. They still have a bet on hydrogen.
The Chinese will decide - they have several million-plus companies on their way

[spech]

Tesla blew up the global market (despite
your debts).

This is called a SCAM!
MMM also "blew up" the market

[cat Rusich]

We are waiting for ,, surrender, AvtoVAZ . All to protect Togliatti !!! Hordes of electric vehicles will be stopped near Kryzhopol (future HERO city) Over the Urals for you (electric cars) - NO ROAD!

[voyaka uh]

I like it! this +

[riwas]

On the experience of using light reconnaissance vehicles, though with ICE.
Operations by four SAS mobile reconnaissance units in Land Rover 110 vehicles, Land Rover Defender 90 light reconnaissance vehicles and motorcycles in the rear of the Iraqi forces. They were entrusted with the following tasks: detecting Skat mobile missiles, guiding aircraft at the detected missile launchers (PU), reconnaissance of the results of strikes, self-destruction of launchers, if it was not possible to call the aircraft or it did not have time to arrive in the launcher detection area start of UR "Scud". The mobile detachment consisted of 12 vehicles and two or three motorcyclists. each vehicle had three people, a commander, a driver and a gunner-operator of the firing installation. As the latter, about half of the vehicles housed the Milan ATGM, and the rest - 12,7-mm Browning machine guns or automatic American 40-mm Mk-19 grenade launchers.
The penetration of the British SAS into Iraqi territory began five days before the start of the war in groups of four and eight. They were delivered to pre-designated points in the western, southern and northern regions of Iraq at night by Chinook helicopters equipped with reconnaissance equipment and equipment for jamming enemy air defense radar systems. The use of such means made it possible to ensure the covert disembarkation of SAS groups with vehicles.
In carrying out the task, the detachment advanced in the convoy of vehicles, with guards ahead of a pair of motorcyclists or a light reconnaissance vehicle. Upon arrival in the mission area, a base was organized from where reconnaissance patrols (RD) were sent by cars to inspect areas of the area. At the base location, the cars were lined up in a circle and camouflaged using regular means. The personnel, not busy with any tasks, were inside this circle: rested, put in order weapons and equipment. At a distance of 250-300 m, paired patrols were put up to guard the base, the number of which depended on the terrain and the proximity of the enemy. On the basis of constant watch was organized to maintain contact with taxiways and security. Having examined one area in this way, the entire column moved to a new one, where the whole procedure was repeated.
Specific example. On February 3, 1991, the RD, consisting of three vehicles, discovered an Iraqi convoy with launchers (14 vehicles in total) in the area of ​​the city of Ar Rutbakh. Having conveyed a message to the command about the discovery of Scud missiles, the reconnaissance patrol, following a parallel route, constantly monitored the convoy. About 10 minutes later, two F-15 tactical fighters appeared and launched a missile attack on the Iraqi convoy. After the smoke cleared and the dust settled, the taxiway commander discovered that two launchers remained intact and reported this to the center by radio. Having received a message that there will be air support, but now there is no aviation in this area that could repeat the strike before the Skatov launch was made, the RD commander decided to independently destroy the remaining launchers with Milan ATGM fire (the remaining launchers had spent two ATGMs). The Milan missile strike betrayed the RD positions. During the ensuing battle with the Iraqi reinforcements arrived in time, one vehicle was hit. But the tactical F-15 fighters that came to the rescue struck the Iraqis and the British RD, taking advantage of the coming twilight, escaped pursuit in the remaining vehicles.

Read more in my article:
http://www.sinor.ru/~bukren21/VDV_Russia.doc