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Old 20th Jul 2017, 22:15
  #42 (permalink)  
tdracer
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Everett, WA
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The first question you need to ask is "what's the carrot"? What would the military gain with widespread use of all electric vehicles?


Environmentally friendly? Seriously, that's a priority for the military? They're going to kill people and blow stuff up in an environmentally friendly manner?
Increased range or rapid refueling capability? No, compared to petroleum electric is nearly always worse.
Flexibility/mobility? Most battlefields don't have a wide spread electrical grid to provide the juice (and if they do, it's going to be a prime target for the opposition). So you need to bring that electrical infrastructure with you (along with fuel to generate that juice) - again, making things worse.
Quiet/Stealth? Ok, here things look promising - electric vehicles can be very quiet with a low thermal profile (although even the thermal profile needs to be worked - rapid discharge or charging of a battery creates a lot of heat). So for limited role scout/reconnaissance vehicles electrical operation may have some benefit - perhaps a hybrid. But anything bigger is a non-starter.
So in short, aside from some specialized roles, Sevarg is spot on.
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