You most likely know Banks Power from their high-power diesel initiatives, like the GMC Sierra Sidewinder Type R observe truck, or the diesel S10 that runs 7s within the quarter mile. Those sorts of fanatic builds helped cement Banks as one of many premier diesel tuners on the earth, which in flip helped them win a authorities protection contract in 2022. The U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office requested Banks to develop a brand new drivetrain for the previous HMMWV to carry it into the longer term.
Colloquially often known as the Humvee, the AM General-developed navy truck has been in service since 1983, and is in determined want of a revamp. A bit over 1 / 4 million of those massive vans have been constructed during the last forty years, and the long-serving 6.5-liter non-turbo diesel V8 underneath the hood is proving inefficient and incapable of supporting a contemporary armed forces. The commonest examples of the HMMWV make an astonishingly low 195 horsepower and 380 lb-ft of torque, giving them a prime velocity of simply 55 miles per hour when loaded down.
The major goal of the contract was to combine hybrid know-how into the previous truck, bringing the antiquated platform into the fashionable age. The hybrid battery cannot solely help the truck with higher acceleration and prime velocity, but it surely may also be used to energy a cellular tactical operation heart, and probably help future weapons methods.
Banks developed a brand new hybrid drivetrain for the HMMWV which ditches all the inventory elements in favor of a modernized diesel-electric mixture. The 6.5-liter V8 has been swapped out for a 3-liter V6 and a turbocharger, which not solely makes extra energy, however burns much less gas. Behind it, the transmission tunnel incorporates a strong electrical motor. The new drivetrain improved acceleration, vary, and velocity, whereas bettering the getting old platform’s capabilities.
According to Banks, the prototype exceeded the Army’s necessities for acceleration, vary, and braking. Perhaps essentially the most attention-grabbing a part of the experiment is the flexibility of the prototype to function in a silent full-EV mode and nonetheless beat the Army’s necessities.
Now that the prototype has been completed and Banks has executed some inside testing, it has been handed off to the Army for additional examine. No last take a look at outcomes have been launched on the hybrid Humvee but, however Banks guarantees future releases concerning the mission, which can hopefully give us a sign of the restomodded troop transporter’s acceleration numbers and gas economic system.
In 2022 the Department of Defense bought an estimated $10.3 billion in bulk diesel gas. The U.S. navy consumes about 622.5 trillion Btu of vitality yearly (although this statistic is steadily dropping), which is sort of 13 instances greater than the U.S. Postal Service—the second-highest consuming authorities company—makes use of. Making the Army’s 100,000-ish Humvees a bit extra environment friendly would make a small drop in that ocean of gas consumed, but it surely’s not nothing.
Source: jalopnik.com