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Republicans try to stop military’s electrification with mind-bogglingly dumb proposals (electrek.co)

submitted 1 year ago by DarkGamer@kbin.social to c/politics@kbin.social

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Several Republican representatives have proposed amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act to try to stop the Pentagon’s electrification. The proposals sound so mind-bogglingly dumb that they look like they were written by 19th-century Luddites or the fossil fuel industry itself.

With the US military operating a fleet of hundreds of thousands of vehicles, including tactical vehicles, it makes the Pentagon the largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels in the world.

The entire transportation industry is currently transitioning to electric propulsion, and the US military knows better than to be left behind.

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[–] Alto@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Going to start running into cooling issues there as well.

Look, I'm all for electrification in as many places as we can, but there are absolutely many military use cases where they currently aren't feasible. Not to mention lithium batteries getting blown up is significantly worse for the surrounding environment long term than a diesel vehicle.

[–] BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

I would imagine the military is considering all of these factors. If there is actually political pressure to electrify vehicles in contexts where it's truly not appropriate, that would be alarming, but I haven't heard of any evidence of that happening at all, so I wouldn't say it's a meaningful concern.

[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Going to start running into cooling issues there as well.

Reinforced steel then? It both conducts heat and works as armor. I'm confident a technological solution exists.

I'm all for electrification in as many places as we can, but there are absolutely many military use cases where they currently aren't feasible.

Yes, and there are likely many circumstances where electric is preferable. With the right equipment this could allow military operations without supply chains delivering fuel. Batteries to be refilled by solar, or portable fission or fusion reactors, for example.

Not to mention lithium batteries getting blown up is significantly worse for the surrounding environment long term than a diesel vehicle.

I suspect a military that uses depleted uranium rounds and burns all its waste in massive fire pits doesn't prioritize pollution reduction.