The Directorate-General for Armaments and Materials (DGAM) has issued a request for proposals to address current and future requirements.
One of these initiatives, in particular, is of relevance since it includes the use of hydrogen as a fuel by military vehicles currently in service with the Spanish Armed Forces.
The DGAM gives roughly 750,000 euros as a governmental contribution to enterprises that propose to offer recommendations on the issue as part of this initiative.
This is the potential usage of fuel cells, which allow the extreme synthetic transmutation of hydrogen into energy, which then drives a battery and the vehicle’s primary and/or secondary engines if present.
This sort of technology creates water as a byproduct, cutting pollutants and vehicle thermal emissions significantly. The long-term aim is to remove diesel and/or gasoline as fuels for Armed Forces vehicles, while the short-term goal is to develop mixed or hybrid systems that, in any event, limit the use of traditional fuels.
The DGAM stipulates that the hydrogen fuel cell system must-have performance comparable to or better than traditional combustion systems, as well as a number of other parameters, the most significant of which are weight, power, autonomy, consumption, prices, and simplicity of system maintenance.
The system must also be able to generate enough energy to power other systems and equipment outside of the vehicle.
If the program is successful, the new hydrogen fuel cell batteries will first be installed in vehicle lines now being given to the Spanish Armed Forces, which will eventually adopt entirely electric cars.
