U.S. Army Strategy for Utilizing Fuel Cells as Auxiliary Power Units

This paper describes the approach taken by the U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), Tank-automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center's (TARDEC) National Automotive Center (NAC) to attain practical fuel cell applications for military ground vehicle auxiliary power. This discussion covers the reasons for wanting military vehicle fuel cell Auxiliary Power Units (APUs), their potential role in the Army Transformation, the complications of applying fuel cells in military vehicles, concepts for military vehicle fuel cell APUs, and the NAC's commercial partnership strategy for fuel cell APU development.