The U.S. Army held a forum in Troy, Mich., to discuss the service branch’s developments in electric vehicle production efforts, National Defense magazine reported Thursday.
Dean Zeal McGrew, leader of the powertrain electrification team under the Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center, said the event detailed TARDEC’s progress in the emerging vehicular platform. McGrew noted that TARDEC plans to use other transaction authority agreements to acquire new technologies such as electric vehicles. He added that the unit will release its development strategy following the series of forums, which intends to foster dialogue with engineers, project managers and representatives form the academe and industry.
According to McGrew, TARDEC has been developing methods to overcome the challenges facing electric and hybrid-electric vehicles for the last 25 years. Military personnel in favor of using electric vehicles have said the new platforms provide lower-cost power, greater performance and other features that improve stealth. The series of forums on electric vehicles will continue through summer 2019.