Hybrid armored vehicles go to war without Russia
M1126 Stryker DVHA1
Serial or parallel?
Technically, there is nothing new in the hybrid drive - the first prototypes were built by Ferdinand Porsche back in 1900. His Lohner-Porsche had all the elements inherent in modern hybrids - an internal combustion engine, a generator, batteries and electric motors. More precisely, even motor-wheels. The design was distinguished by its large mass, complexity and low reliability, which predetermined its unhappy future.
For several decades, hybrid circuits disappeared from the radar of automotive engineers. Nevertheless, hybrids had some advantages that cannot be kept silent about. First of all, it is cost-effective.
On the one hand, fuel consumption can be reduced by operating the internal combustion engine without jerks and at the most optimal speeds.
On the other hand, it is possible to move part of the route exclusively on electric power with the engine turned off. Due to the higher overall efficiency of the hybrid drive, the motors are installed with slightly lower power – on average by 25–30 percent, which has a positive effect on fuel consumption.
Hybrid Lohner-Porsche
The simplest hybrid in design can be called a sequential circuit, when the engine drives the generator rotor, which in turn supplies energy to the electric motors. The presence of rechargeable batteries in the circuit is mandatory, allowing, if necessary, to turn off the internal combustion engine and move exclusively on electric power.
There were also some specific disadvantages. Due to the long path of hydrocarbon energy conversion, the efficiency of the sequential circuit is not the highest. As the theory says: “The efficiency of a system of series-connected mechanisms is always lower than the worst of the mechanisms of this system.”
When nodes are connected in parallel, the efficiency occupies some intermediate value in relation to the efficiency of individual nodes. In such schemes, the internal combustion engine is usually directly connected to the drive wheels, but an electric motor-generator intervenes. They either take part of the energy during regenerative braking and store it in batteries, or release it from them at moments of peak consumption, for example during acceleration.
The parallel circuit is often found on cars and trucks - modern technologies make it possible to create reliable and unpretentious units. They especially love this in Japan. Recently, even minicars on the islands are equipped with hybrid drives, which only twenty years ago seemed unprofitable and fantastic.
Automotive analysts consider hybrid circuits an intermediate link to a happy electric vehicle future. But this is completely different story.
Hybrids at war
Hybrid technologies have been used in current and future armored vehicles for a long time, but have not yet found widespread use. At the same time, “hybrids” have specific advantages in war. For example, the ability to move exclusively on electric power significantly reduces noise from movement. Especially for wheeled vehicles.
It is important to understand the significant disadvantages that a hybrid power plant brings with it to armored vehicles. In addition to a noticeable increase in the final cost of the combat vehicle, builders have to look for considerable amounts of reserved space to accommodate batteries. This can be partially compensated by the absence of a rather large hydromechanical transmission and drive shafts to the wheels.
Modern lithium-ion batteries on armored vehicles are an extra source of fire that is not easy to put out. It only takes a few bullets or shrapnel to set the battery pack on fire. Frosts can also negate all the advantages of a hybrid circuit - self-discharge of batteries in the cold is familiar to all users of wearable gadgets.
But you can compensate for the last drawback by slightly complicating the design. For example, installing a battery heating circuit from the engine cooling system. By the way, this will add efficiency to the entire installation - heat will be spent more efficiently.
Despite the disadvantages described above, the hybrid scheme is attracting more and more attention from the military.
From the latter, the Americans are trying to integrate a hybrid drive into their base M1126 Stryker DVHA1. Among the bonuses are reduced fuel consumption, and with it an increase in power reserve. The exact parameters are not given, but reports on the Russian Krymsk platform are suitable for comparison.
Domestic hybrid “Krymsk”
About ten years ago, engineers from the Military Industrial Company experimented with a hybrid armored personnel carrier based on the BTR-90. The car was built according to all the canons on a domestic element base using a sequential circuit.
Tests and theoretical calculations have shown that the dynamics of armored vehicles and tanks-hybrids will increase by 20–35 percent, average speed by 5 percent, and range by 15–22 percent. It was pointless to talk about the effectiveness of the Krymsk’s silent mode of operation - the car traveled on electric power for no more than 500 meters.
Domestic engineers have calculated that “if plans are successfully implemented, parallel-type hybrid power plants should be recommended for use on promising and modernized equipment developed after 2020, and sequential type after 2025.” That is, the classic scheme of serial connection of an engine and an electric motor is considered the most promising.
It looks like a fly in the ointment to state a fact that was true both ten years ago and now - the production of domestic signal microcircuits, high-current high-frequency semiconductor devices, small-sized film capacitors and driver devices remains problematic.
We also worked on hybrid power plants at the St. Petersburg VNIITransmash. Moreover, a tracked vehicle weighing 54 tons and a maximum speed of 75 km/h was considered immediately with products for tanks - the carrier of the units. Considering that open information dates back to 2015, there is every reason to assume that Armata could become a hybrid.
However, the level of competence and management of that time is evidenced by the “successes” with the attempt to replace the Belarusian MZKT with the KamAZ-7850 rocket carrier, better known as “Platform-O”. Engineers used a sequential hybrid drive scheme with motor-wheels. It turned out spectacularly, but the events did not come out of the experimental work.
Hybrid StrykerQB
Meanwhile, modern trends set new requirements for hybrid systems on military equipment.
If we remember about the American Sryker, then one of the motives was the high energy consumption on board the armored vehicle. The armored car must now be able to “generate, store and distribute energy to external assets.” The Americans are hinting that without a hybrid drive it will not be possible to install laser installations and active protection systems.
The completely different role of hybrids in the wars of the future becomes obvious - now it is not so much a means of reducing fuel consumption, but also providing power to a wide arsenal on board. It is very desirable that you can use all the functionality even when the internal combustion engine is switched off.
Controversial, but valid, is the thesis about the sufficiency of the auxiliary power unit to power the attached equipment of the tank and other armored vehicles. They say that all the complexities of a hybrid power plant can be compensated for by one diesel generator suspended above the rear left drive sprocket - this is how it is implemented on the T-90MS.
For the existing needs of the tank, such a scheme is quite sufficient, but we are talking about promising technologies, the energy requirements of which will be many times greater than modern ones. In addition, the beauty of a hybrid is that it can provide energy to consumers while parked, and in the event of a big rush, add a few percent of power and take the combat vehicle away from trouble.
But let's return to Stryker, a tender for the development of a hybrid drive for which has already been announced. An ideological prototype for future development can be considered the unmanned and hybrid StrykerQB, first presented by General Dynamics at the AUSA 2023 exhibition. But this is still only an expensive toy, and the military needs a diesel-electric armored car that is maximally adapted to modern realities. At the previous AUSA 2022, the Americans rolled out the StrykerX also with a hybrid power plant.
A modern combat vehicle is filled with an increasing number of energy consumers, many of which simply do not have enough electricity. A hybrid powertrain can help solve this promising problem.
Plans for the hybridization and electrification of the American armored vehicle fleet look interesting and quite controversial. Thus, hybrids will become commonplace within ten years, and by 2050, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers will switch to full electric propulsion and completely abandon fuel. In this way, Americans not only improve their technology, but also fight global warming.
Let's leave the toxic exhausts of tanks to the Americans and think about what the Russian military-industrial complex will bring to a hypothetical war of the future? In application to hybrid technologies, of course.
Nothing - there is currently no information about the development of hybrid circuits.
Today is not a very convenient time for this, frankly speaking, but even before the special operation, apart from the hybrid “Krymsk” and “Platform-O”, the domestic military-industrial complex was not pleased with anything. That is, there are no developments on individual units and even technology demonstrators.
Of course, a total transition to hybrid drives will not become a strategic advantage at the front, but such technology is necessary for the development of strike potential. At least for power supply to those very promising consumers - active protection systems, directed energy technologies, electronic warfare and communications.
Military equipment will inevitably become increasingly energy-intensive, and without hybrid circuits it will not be easy to cope with network congestion.
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