To improve the sustainability of future defence mobility, while retaining the highest performance demanded by military vehicles, the European Defence Agency (EDA) has been working on the development of hybrid drive trains for military use. 

According to a relevant announcement, EDA has formally kicked off the HybriDT II (Hybrid Drive Train Demonstrator-phase 2) project, which involves the design of full-scale wheeled and tracked military purpose demonstrators with hybrid drive trains. The aim of HybriDT II is the design of demonstrators to verify simulation results and allow for tactical and logistic testing of new technologies. 

Phase two will work to identify the best technology for a modular and scalable hybrid architecture best fitting for military purposes, which meets the objectives of significant weight saving, space claim, thermal radiation reduction and fuel consumption reduction. 

Wheeled vehicles will be the primary focus of the research, with 8×8 and 6×6 Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs) being considered. In addition, tracked vehicle applications will be investigated just within the simulation.

The kick-off meeting, held on September 6, has officially started the second phase of the project (HybriDT II) that involves Germany, as lead contributing Member State, and Austria, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovenia as contributing Member States. This phase of the project lasts 15 months and has a total budget of €1.7 million. 

In the expected follow-on phase (HybriDT III), one or more demonstrators will be developed, manufactured and tested according to the results obtained in HybriDT II. 

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The project will be executed by a consortium composed of thirteen industrial and research entities: the AVL List as project leader and General Dynamics European Land Systems – Steyr from Austria; the German AVL Schrick, AVL Software and Functions and Institute for Chemical Technology Fraunhofer; DNV, TNO and VDL from the Netherlands; the Polish Military University of Technology and Huta Stalowa Wola Ironworks; AVL Slovenia, Elaphe Propulsion Technology and University of Ljubljana (Slovenia).

Hybrid II project, prepared in the CapTech Ground Systems at EDA’s Research and Innovation Directorate, contributed to developing innovative propulsion and drivetrain systems, which could fulfil the production of zero-emission vehicles (ZEV), by introducing the most advanced technological trends in transportation.

EDA supports all EU Member States in improving their defence capabilities through European cooperation. Acting as an enabler and facilitator for Ministries of Defence willing to engage in collaborative capability projects, the Agency has become the hub for European defence cooperation with expertise and networks spanning the whole spectrum of defence capabilities. 

Member States use EDA as an intergovernmental expert platform where their collaborative projects are supported, facilitated, and implemented. 

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