Jamie Bennet
The Defense Innovation Unit has named additional participants in a project that seeks commercial battery prototypes for the Department of Defense’s military vehicle electrification efforts.
Canoo Technologies and Lucid Motors join GM Defense, a General Motors subsidiary, as developers under the Jumpstart for Advanced Battery Standardization initiative.
DIU said Wednesday the companies will produce batteries for DOD testing and assessment on tactical vehicles as the department looks to adopt a standardized system to electrify multiple defense platforms.
The Pentagon’s innovation arm is working with the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Ground Vehicle Systems Center of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command and the Department of the Navy’s operational energy program office to facilitate the JABS project.
“Our strategy is to learn how large of a building block we can leverage, how to package the commercial technology into non-proprietary defense interfaces, and how to integrate batteries evolving at the speed of industry into defense platforms with static structures,” said Daphne Fuentevilla, a DON deputy director.
DIU intends to enlist two more vendors to develop and demonstrate battery prototypes.
