Imagine military vehicles running longer, and faster without fuel powered by state-of-the-art electricity. That is the vision behind the breakthrough collaboration between the defense subsidiary of General Motors, GM Defense, and the Pulsed Power and Energy Laboratory at the University of Texas at Arlington. ​It is working with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Philadelphia Division, to test and mature advanced battery technology for the Department of Defense.

The project, called Evaluation of Electric Vehicle Batteries to Enable Directed Energy or EEVBEDE, is supported with funds from the US Department of Defense Operational Energy Innovation Office. GM Defense is heavily investing in the research; it sees the potential for this tech to change the face of military operations.

The Department of Defense can leverage our investments in transformational battery technologies that could provide operational capability at the tactical edge, or on an installation anyplace around the world," commented Steve duMont, president, GM Defense. He is very excited about the opportunity to support this project and help transition GM's defense and government customers to more efficient and powerful electric vehicles.

At the heart of this project is GM's Ultium Platform: a game-changing propulsion architecture that enables power, range, and scalability beyond anything previously seen in electric vehicles. That modular design makes it possible to adapt to evolving needs and new technological advancement, so it will easily fit military duty.

Dr. David Wetz, a professor of Electrical Engineering at UTA and the director of PPEL, expressed his excitement about the collaboration. "We're excited to work with GM Defense to test the Ultium Platform and determine its potential for use in future warfighting applications," he said. "Our lab has years of experience working for the DoD and Office of Naval Research testing the boundaries of batteries for high-power uses, so we're uniquely positioned to be able to test this technology and advise on its future use."