What synergies are there in the automotive and defense industries when it comes to the drive of the future? This was the topic of a cluster meeting at ACS Armored Car Systems GmbH, which was jointly organized by the Automotive Cluster and TechHUB SVI, which is also based at Bayern Innovativ.
Around 50 vehicle experts from the mobile and military world came together at the fully booked event to network with each other and talk about cross-industry cooperation opportunities. The participants discussed various challenges in drive technology in a "world cafe format", among other things.
These are the key findings:
In the military sector, only a few of the experts currently expect disruptive revolutions for new drive technologies. This means that the combustion engine will remain the most important source of propulsion in the medium term, at least for combat vehicles.
The innovative edge of the automotive industry in recent years can nevertheless provide important impetus for the defense industry. For example, the development cycle for a passenger car is around 5 years, whereas for a military vehicle it is around 25 years and in reality often even longer.
Innovative technologies that are already well established in current civilian vehicles offer many advantages: Lower fuel consumption is important in a military context not only for reasons of sustainability, but also in terms of vehicle weight, range and fuel logistics - aspects that can be decisive in combat.
Hybrid and electric vehicles, in turn, consume significantly less energy and produce fewer emissions when in the waiting position, for example. Their lower noise levels and heat radiation make them more difficult to detect.
Hybrid drives can increase resilience and reliability. These are issues that have a completely different significance in the command post than in a civilian context. Electric drives also offer significantly better driving dynamics.
The topic of retrofitting is also very important: not least in view of the long innovation cycles for military vehicles and the lengthy procurement processes of many armed forces, it can make sense to modernize existing vehicles, for example for operation with hydrogen or e-fuels. Another advantage: they enable independence from fossil fuels and their sources of supply.
Military versus traditional automotive industry: it depends on the context
Topics such as robustness under the harshest environmental conditions, battery performance and service life as well as logistics, second life, supply chains, compliance, manufacturer liability or cybersecurity have to meet completely different conditions in a military context than in the traditional automotive industry, which produces for private end customers.
While hybrid drives improve resilience, they also increase complexity. These issues also need to be clarified.
Many points of contact and opportunities
"The world continues to turn: the use of future alternative drive technologies is still fraught with risk, but so is the insistence on existing drive technologies!" outlined Prof. Dr. Gerhard Skoff, authorized signatory at engineering service provider AVL List GmbH, the path to the future. The Bavarian automotive industry, whose innovative dynamism has set the pace worldwide in recent decades, can provide the security and defense industry with important impetus on the road to the future.
At the same time, the security and defense industry offers many points of contact and opportunities for the automotive industry, which is currently undergoing the most comprehensive transformation in its history. All participants agreed that these must be recognized and exploited.
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