![]() At the same time, energy density of lithium-ion cells has improved from 200 watt-hours per kilogram a decade ago to about 270 watt-hours per kilogram today. For context, he noted that just five years ago, average costs ran about $500 per kilowatt-hour. The MoD’s Didi Ben-Yoash, a retired brigadier general and former chief armored officer who manages Project Carmel, cited hybrid power as an essential feature of Israel’s modernization plans.Ĭrediting what he called “the Tesla effect” of Elon Musk’s electric car that has energized the commercial automotive industry, Frisch estimated that the cost of automotive lithium-ion batteries is expected to drop by half in the coming five years from today’s price of about $200 per kilowatt-hour. And there’s always spare capacity for several engine starts so you won’t get stuck in the field,” Kost added.Īt a maneuvering warfare conference in Israel last May, defense and military officials mapped out armored vehicle modernization plans, which include improved versions of Israel’s front-line Merkava Mark IV tank and Project Carmel, a technology demonstrator that will assist in designing Israel’s future tank to be deployed more than a decade from now. But with the lithium-ion technology, they don’t die. “With the old technology, batteries will drop dead and you’ll need another vehicle to come and recover you. Moreover, they provide an automatic alert to crews when batteries are drained. All these needs must be met by batteries with full-night endurance to support all the complex systems of the vehicle itself and the ancillary mission of supporting dismounted soldiers.”Īccording to Kost, the batteries to be tested soon by Israel’s Tank Development Authority are designed with residual capacity to ensure that, even when empty, there’s enough power to restart the main engine. “During hot summer nights, the crews want to keep the air conditioning running and these vehicles are often tasked with recharging batteries of infantry forces. Ori Kost, Epsilor’s large battery program manager, noted that armored vehicles are also called upon to support dismounted infantry. In short, said Frisch, with traditional batteries there are essentially two choices, neither of them good: “Either you power up every several hours and give away your position or you stay silent and your batteries drop dead. “This is barely enough to enable the vehicle to perform a four- to five-hour Silent Watch mission, while a typical Middle Eastern night lasts 10 to 14 hours from darkness to dawn.” Centurion tank – British tank from which the Sho't is derived.He noted that typical main battle tanks or wheeled infantry combat vehicles have between eight to 10 lead-acid batteries providing, at most, 14 kilowatt-hours of energy. ![]()
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