Dive Brief:
- Canoo and Lucid Motors were awarded contracts to develop battery modules for testing and analysis on Department of Defense platforms, according to a Feb. 1 press release.
- The two companies will help the department standardize a battery module that would increase the agency’s demand signal for commercial batteries and reduce barriers to commercial sector collaboration. GM Defense and two more yet-to-be named manufacturers are also participating.
- The manufacturers will also be part of the Jumpstart for Advanced Battery Standardization project, which will allow commercial EV battery manufacturers to test and develop standards required to adapt batteries for a vast range of Defense Department platforms.
Dive Insight:
The Defense Department is looking to enlist commercial building block batteries as part of a broad strategy for integrating the technology into military use, Daphne Fuentevilla, deputy director at the Department of the Navy Operational Energy, said in a statement.
"Our strategy is to learn how large of a building block we can leverage, how to package the commercial technology into non-proprietary defense interfaces, and how to integrate batteries evolving at the speed of industry into defense platforms with static structures," Fuentevilla said in a statement.
Each contract manufacturer named so far has a distinct mission and focus:
- Canoo will utilize its battery system and develop a building block that can be adjusted for tactical military vehicles and provide information on future strategies for standard technology integration.
- Lucid Motors, a luxury EV manufacturer, will utilize its high-voltage battery systems for its EVs and develop scalable battery modules that will be tested for integration in electrified tactical military vehicles.
- GM Defense, a subsidiary of General Motors and the first vendor to be awarded back in September, will utilize its Ultium platform and develop an adaptable design that can be used for tactical military vehicles and provide information for standard technology integration.
This isn't Canoo's or GM Defense's first award with the Department of Defense. Last year, the U.S. Army selected both manufacturers to deliver EVs that would demonstrate how the modular electric vehicle platforms can be adapted to the Army's specific needs.
And last month, GM Defense's collaboration with American Rheinmetall Vehicles was one of four manufacturer teams chosen to update the Army's common tactical trucks.
