"Recon Marines on Dirt Bikes Deploying to a Theater Near You" Topic

Looks like modern gamers are getting some cool new models: link

Also, does it seem like every day the world gets a little more cyberpunk?

Greta will be pleased, unlike the British SAS who were using filthy petrol engine motor bike in Gulf War one!

Tally Ho!

The concept I believe is sound: hot swap battery packs for vehicles will reduce "fuel" times, reduce fuel trains and reduce logistic support needed. HOWEVER…60-80 equivalent miles or less on a charge is quite frankly, useless. You'd be swapping near every 90 minutes-the article admits to sometimes less than 30 minutes of use!

When battery packs can supply 2-300 mile ranges, with hot swap and minimal weight issues, then the electric military vehicle will come of age.

The US Army in the early '80s had Scouts mounted on IIRC Suzuki 250 Dirt bikes. We had them in the 101 in '81-'82(?). The Army's experiment did not last long. For a number of reasons including too many accidents IIRC.

EVs for many military vehicles IMO is the tech is not there yet. How long will it take to recharge an M1 MBT ? Will switching out the battery be the solution ?

What I see pushing an agenda before the "Green" Military is ready to go electric …

L4,
the 101 still had had cycles at least as late as Desert Storm '91, my squad leader drove one through the highway of death with a scout platoon!

L4,
yes you are correct, the tech for heavy electric vehicles still is not ready-I've first hand experience with heavy electric only work vehicles in the civilian world and they rarely last more than a few hours (and we need them to run 18-20 hours a day).

I think electric will be the way to go, the signifiant decrease in logistics is apparent (I've seen it in action), but the common repair knowledge as well as the capacity of current batteries just are not there-yet. Hybrids, in the other hand, are doing quite well in heavy industrial capacity. Those have come quite a long way in just the last 5-10 years (again, as I am quite familiar with this in the civvy world)-these see SIGNIFICANT savings in fuel use. The drawback is the "general repair knowledge" just does not exist quite yet in the workforce.

the 101 still had had cycles at least as late as Desert Storm '91, my squad leader drove one through the highway of death with a scout platoon!

Did not know that ! Thanks for the update. They must have brought them back ? As when I left the 101 for the 2ID in '83 all our Scout Plt bikes were gone. As a sidebar, when I got to the 2ID assigned with a forward deployed Mech Bn[M113] our Scouts were still using M151 Jeeps. But were eventually replaced with M113 APCs & M901 ITVs …

Yes, I agree EVs may be the way to go in the future when the Tech is better. Local municipal vehicles whose travel is limited to e.g. the county or city etc. Has some merit. But charging time is the limiting factor in most cases. Again how long will it take to recharge an M1 tank?

And at this time EVs are very expensive … that is a factor too. Hybrids would be the best solution at this time. But expense is a factor there too.

No doubt EVs will be good for the Green agenda. I don't have a problem with that. But I see a case e.g.; The Wright Brothers flew 120 feet for 10 seconds, or something like that. However, they knew their next flight was not going to be across the Atlantic.

I see politics and optics are getting in the way of logic & reason again.

+1 L4

Won't an EM pulse fry the BMS board in the EV battery? Not to mention the EV's controller.

Do EM pulses fry filthy old petrol tech with the spinny-arm thing underneath the distributor cap?

AFAIK EMP will fry anything with electric components. If not hardened/protected. So many electric devices would be big paperweights if hit with EMP.

BTW there is at least one company working on electric AFVs. Again, how long would it take to fully charge a 72-ton M1A3 MBT?

I think electric will be the way to go, the signifiant decrease in logistics is apparent (I've seen it in action), but the common repair knowledge as well as the capacity of current batteries just are not there-yet.

Why is it a decrease in logistics? You will need to have an array of *diesel* powered field generators at the hub of centralized power recharging stations making "refueling" at least as hazardous from a targeting standpoint. Unless you want your EV tanks and AFVs being followed by mobile field recharging generators towing big 'ol tanks of diesel fuel to keep going?

And how do you fix a broken EV engine? You can't, that's a factory job -- so you'd better have enough of everything on hand to replace stuff since you can't repair it in the field.

And EV vehicles also get HOT. Like, you don't have any stealth advantage on thermals for using an EV motorcycle, though it would be quieter than an ICE motorcycle. Ever walk by an EV after it's been parked? The fan runs for like 10min after operation so the high heat build-up doesn't fry anything or cause a fire?

What about EV batteries spontaneously combusting? Happens frequently now to street vehicles under variable conditions -- it's a hot day and the EV's fan didn't cool off the battery enough and POOF, or there's a manufacturing flaw and the EV battery hits a fatal charge-recharge cycle failure, etc. Now put the EV batteries into extreme climates, stress the hell outta them with lots of discharge/recharge cycles, and knock 'em bout in mud, dirt, debris and all that.

This is all about politics, not military readiness. It's about forcing the artificial creation of an EV market via top-down government spending and policies. IF these EV cycles were considered basically disposables, they more sense for stealthy missions -- but I'd love too hear from the Teams what they *really* think about them rather than what their unit's PR officer wants them to say.

I'm not seeing a decrease in Log with EVs either. AFAIK they'd have the same or similar parts. Only the power plant would change, I'm think … Been in 3 Mech Bns, and attached to Tanks Bns they are Log intensive. Catering to the iron monster …

Instead of recharging an AFV's battery replace with a fully charged one. Taking the old one back to the Field Trains and recharge it there. But that would be labor intensive I'd think. I've seen our Maint. crews pull and replace an M1 pack in 4-5 hrs. That is a good time. But not all our M60A1s or M1IPs needed their engine to be replaced all at the time, everyday.

This is all about politics, not military readiness.

I have a tendency to agree with that completely. Again, IMO the tech is not there yet. Don't think it's been well thought out. But it seems some in leadership, etc. positions are trying to push a paradigm that is not ready.