Agile Electric – Forthcoming Proteus Hybrid Capability

Having completed preliminary designs it’s onto the fun stuff, currently working on two Proteus hybrid diesel-electric-hydraulic variants whilst also assessing the potential of pure electric-hydraulic and electric drive variants with supercap buffering.

Series-Parallel Hybrid 8×8 – Engine driving through clutched electric motor into hydraulic system; the gold standard in our view, offering uncompromised performance with ICE and electric drive operating either separately or in combination. Precision, power and robustness of our existing hydraulic drive and controls plus important features such as engine braking and recharging on the move. This solution potentially exceeds all aspects of current Proteus performance, with key enhancements such as silent running (100km+) and silent zero-emissions external power supply (20kWh) and only a minor sacrifice of onboard load capacity (down to about 2000kg). Options for 20 or 40 kWh onboard battery storage.

Series Hybrid 8×8 and 6×6 – Separate generator unit with Electric-Hydraulic drive. Series Hybrid is an approach that many (most?) UGV platforms tend to adopt. In this setup the generator cannot drive the vehicle directly, it provides electric power to charge or supplement the battery. Though inferior in some performance terms and typically with a smaller generating capacity it can be simpler, lighter and more compact, releasing additional internal space for stowage, passengers (4-6) or additional battery capacity. In this case internal battery capacity can be increased to beyond 80 kWh.

Electric-Hydraulic drive with Supercap Buffering. Supercap Buffering stands on its own as an enhancement to battery pack performance in off-road conditions with large peaks in demand and regeneration. We consider this to be an essential component of a pure-electric drive system operating in extreme terrain. We have the capability to develop and field such a solution in various platform configurations, but do not yet know whether there is sufficient market pull to justify the time and resource involved.

Collaborating with Digital Concepts Engineering and DCA Ltd to deliver innovative extreme terrain solutions.