Advanced Military Hybrid Technology

As world oil production begins to peak, the increasing U.S. and worldwide usage of oil will have a negative impact on our national security, environment, and economy. Unfortunately, alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas, ethanol, bio-diesel, and hydrogen are not a satisfactory near-term, or substantive substitute. One promising solution is the charge depleting Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV), sometimes called the plug-in hybrid, which can use energy from the electric grid for propulsion. With the proper energy storage system and drive train, vehicle performance can exceed that of today's conventional vehicles, while reducing fuel usage. This energy storage system, which comprises lithium batteries and possibly ultracapacitors, must provide both high energy and high power. The challenge, addressed in the proposed work, will be to develop an energy storage system that will deliverthe real world requirements of 100 wh/kg energy along with 1000 w/kg power.. AeroVironment will attack these challenges using a wealth of internally assembled battery and ultracapacitor test data, along with hybrid vehicle design and modeling/simulation project experience. AeroVironment has the battery management/power electronics expertise to develop an optimum system combining the merits of a high energy/high power system that may include a hybrid ultracapacitor/Li-Ion system.