Comments by "David Elliott" (@davidelliott5843) on "Can we produce Tanks that only use electric power?" video.

  1. In the 1980s British Rail had diesel electric locomotives with 3000bhp and two electric motors in each bogie. That’s probably four motors at 1000bhp to allow for overloads. They were a.c. with variable frequency drive electronics. Yes they did that 40 years ago. Even better they could move a train loaded with 1000 tons of coal at 0.5mph for loading and unloading. That’s near enough stalled with that big diesel going at full chat. Powering a tank should be no problem at all. And the heat signature would be very low. It has to be or the motors overheat.
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  2. The US military is moving towards using small nuclear plants to provide site power where they currently use gas turbines or diesel. If that seems inappropriate but it means much less fuel to be shipped. The new Ford Class carriers have 125 megawatts of electrical power plus the 260 MW drive to the propellers. From TWO nuke reactors. The army would have smaller kit that can be used on army field base stations.
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  3. Diesel battery hybrids make sense. Electric drive does away with the dual transmission of a tank and the battery will allow a power surge without smoking the engine. Today’s ac drives are more than up to the power demand and the fine control . They are used in trains.
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  4. It’s fair to say that things have moved on since Germany’s WW2 tanks, made with inferior materials due to allied bombing and blockades.
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