Jay Leno rode with Elon Musk in a Cybertruck. Jay Leno has collected over 250 cars worth over $52 million.
Designer Jan Peisert helped Youtube channel Electric Future imagine a military version of Cybertruck.
CEO Mark Burton of Armormax armorizes SUV and trucks. He believes that Cybertruck could be upgraded to withstand grenades and high powered rifles.
Up armoring against high-powered rifles and grenades usually weighs about 1300 pounds.
The premium tri-motor Cybertruck will have an estimated output of 800 horsepower and 1000 pound-feet of torque, plenty of power to propel the hefty metal box to 60 MPH in 2.9 seconds, and tow up to 14,000 pounds. The premium Cybertruck will have battery capacity of 200 kwh.
Armormax would add ballistic steel, ballistic glass and reinforcement of the various pillar posts.
The army has been testing 5-50 kilowatt laser on Stryker armored vehicles.
SOURCES- Electric Future, CNBC – Jay Leno’s Garage, Jan Peisert, Armormax
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. You don’t call a stealth aircraft a coward-flyer. Mobility and stealth are militarily useful.
The form factor could be changed for military applications. But the idea of a vehicle whose main strength is in its outer hull rather than in a chassis could naturally be more militarily useful. After all, it’s the hull that protects occupants from armaments & IEDs, not a chassis.
A rooster tail would be a perfect way to target said vehcile.
That is why milspec equipment is expensive. It has to be easy to use and VERY robust.
I very much doubt, for their sake, the military will be going electric
anytime soon. Power density is too low and charge times too high. Hotswap
would have to be done at base or from a heavier vehicle, battery packs are probably going to be rather large and heavy, if it’s multiple small ones it seems too much of a hassle.
Only way it would serve any purpose would be silent-running
recon but road-noise would probably give it away anyway. Plus, there’s drones flying at 40k feet that can do the job just as easily without risking lives.
Cops, on the other hand, could probably make good use of most of the specs the base model has.
Could use sandwiched aramide panels to keep weight down, don’t need to go battleplate.
The system would need to be reliable and complex. If there are issues with the system that merges camera video then the vehicle is useless. Would be cool if there is a highly robust system, taking away weaker glass would save lives.
The obvous solution is multiple cameras or clusters of cameras around the vehicle. A 3D virutal eniroment could be created by onboard computers. While the computer system is buisy putting that together it could add targeting, directional and infomrational tags to everyting in view.
That’s a good idea… all they need is a portable nuclear reactor truck with Tesla recharging plugs…. they don’t even need to worry about having a oil supply line…. but I think the depleted uranium armor would be too heavy for electric batteries to get a decent range…
It wouldn’t be able to shoot on it’s own, Brian is wrong in that regard. It would require the go-ahead from a person coordinating.
I agree, VR for the driver would be great. But what happens if a camera is destroyed and you need to look through the slits in the window?
The cybertruck already has a 500+ mile range. The military version of the Cybertruck will probably find a way to put batteries in the back near the vault and the front where the engine would be. The cybertruck we can create today with military specs can easily double the range of JLTV. A megawatt hour battery can run a 100 kilowatt laser for at least 10 hours, generators can be used if you want to recharge on the go. But a military cybertruck would be much more covert due the the ability to move quickly and quietly, shoot it’s target with the laser, then depart just as fast. Using a JLTV or Stryker with a helicopter engine strapped to the back would immediately give away position.
You wouldn’t need extra motors, the most expensive variant of the cybertruck has more torque and power than the JLTV. The performance is better by every measure.
This isn’t a Stryker buddy, it is meant to go fast as it can be used for recon purposed and the battery eliminates noise and heat from combusting jet fuel. Not to mention adding armor isn’t an issue, this truck has way more torque than any truck you can scrape up. And flipping over thing the Army’s crappy vehicles regularly do won’t be a problem since the center of gravity would be low with all the batteries in the doors and undercarriage.
I’m sure if this ever comes to fruition the designs will change buddy. The Army wouldn’t allow a contractor to compete if they didn’t meet the requirement of IED resistance.
It’s called recon.
Its the future- we will charge at the on base nuclear power plant or using direct energy from solar power satellites.
If you want to make a proper Sci-Fi PPT have the foresight to replace the window glass with armor plating and substitute a driver wearing a VR headset. Armored glass is heavy and relatively fragile compared to armor.
I suspect that having automatic firing systems that could suddenly start spraying bullets at random depending on software glitches or clever enemy tricks would make all the US soldiers nervous too.
And yes “They would test them thoroughly to make sure they were safe.” They could probably hire some Boeing 737 software engineers, I hear some of them are looking for a new job.
I always thought why sniper detection systems are not linked into automatic fireing systems to give rapid response. This would make any sniper nervous.
Hybrid is not the same as EV. You have to figure out how to get the batteries in there. And you likely need more electric motors and they have to coordinate to get the best performance.
Yes main issue is getting power for an electric car in the field.
However an hybrid would be perfect and is something the military are into.
Especially as cars also tend to work as communication centers or weapon platforms. This however is low power use compared to driving.
You can also use the car as an generator in you forward base.
Tactically going electric the last miles into position is more silent.
It’s not clear to me why electric vehicles have an advantage over diesel vehicles if your electricity comes from an on-site diesel genset.
deaths from driving accidents in the military during training is surprising high, many of them rollovers…
I though Oshkosh already was working on hybrid electric and electric HEMITT trucks for a while now. I think they were being used as test mules for semiautonomous platoon driving (in the convoy sense).
It would make more sense to work together with Oshkosh or other maker of military vehicles, and get the battery, motors, and electrical systems fitted into their vehicles. At least prototypes, to see how they perform.
So you are saying it is a good cowardmobile? You are ignoring that acceleration is going to be impacted by the heavier armor. They will need metal 3x thicker at the very least. They won’t be facing little hand pistols.
The army would not want that speed anyway. Too many idiots running into trees, rolling the vehicles or hitting each other. You want things operating together rather than buzzing all over the place.
Not viable for US military. The underside is the wrong shape. In that regard, it has all the issues of the Hummers. Fine for police. Similar to the one shown would also work for riots and such.
For countries with lower military budgets, it might suffice. However, they would be aware, and any of their would-be opponents, that a big boom under that and that is that.
Need a V-shape under and high clearance if you want to keep your personnel safe.
Imagine the rooster tail something like that would create on a dirt road.
I’m quite excited to find out what upgrades are made by the military to one of those trucks. A laser would be cool. Perhaps swap a laser for a railgun (once we can ensure they’re still effective when scaled down). The get-up-and-go aspect is most definitely a boon and would be SUPER _______ USEFUL. I can’t think of any situation when 0 to 60 in 2.x seconds wouldn’t be useful in a combat situation when you really need to get out of Dodge.
They will probably need to increase the battery to around 300-400kw to add for the weight to keep it at a 200-300 mile range, though it could probably still do a 0-60 in 5 seconds with that weight, making it much much faster than a Humvee. Then with a 50-100kw laser it might be able to take out a plane or two off battery alone with a 100 mile round trip to a staging area, maybe a 20-30km range on it. Have a trailer to follow it with either a 20kw diesel generator or a 20kw solar panel setup with extra 100kw battery that can deploy to charge it and fire the laser.