Chevrolet has come up with a new green solution for the US Army's mobility requirements - the Colorado ZH2. It's a big badass all-terrain vehicle that's typical of any built for military application though the real game changer with the ZH2 is its fuel cell power source.
That alone sets the new Chevy truck miles apart from the usual fuel guzzling monster trucks that armies around the world rely on. So with the new ZH2, the US Army will have a truck that is silent and 'has reduced acoustic and thermal signatures,' thereby making it near stealth in its operations, TechCrunch reported.
The other positive attributes of the ZH2 include low fuel consumption and high wheel torque at all speeds. Also, the fact that hydrogen powered vehicles have water as waste product also makes it an unlikely source of water as well, which makes the ZH2 ideal for extended military operations farther away from their base. That is not all as the ZH2 can also act as a secondary source of power, with the ability to export anywhere between 25 kW to even 50 kW of power when needed.
That said, the ZH2 is still to be certified for military use with the US Army set to put the vehicle to a thorough test starting next year.
"Fuel cells have the potential to expand the capabilities of Army vehicles significantly through quiet operation, exportable power and solid torque performance, all advances that drove us to investigate this technology further," said Paul Rogers, director at TARDEC (Tank Automotive Research, Development & Engineering Center).
As for the vehicle itself, Chevrolet has based it on the Colorado midsize pickup but with the chassis stretched and reinforced all round. According to Carscoops, The measurements are massive too what with the truck standing an imposing 6 and half feet tall while measuring more than seven feet across. It rides on equally massive 39-inch tires with suspension specially modified and strengthened for extreme off-roading abilities.
However, a few details have been kept withheld, like what its range is or how much it weighs and so on. The US Army will have the ZH2 for field trials that will last an entire year.
Meanwhile, here is the link to the Colorado ZH2 gallery.
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