Chevy’s Stealthy Hydrogen-Fueled Pickup Truck Will Be Tested by the U.S. Army

Chevy has built a pretty beastly hydrogen fuel cell-powered pickup truck for the US Army’s Tank Automotive Research, Development, and Engineering Center (TARDEC), dubbed the Colorado ZH2. It weighs in at 3 tons, stands 6.5 feet tall, and sports a camo paint job, but what really sets this truck apart are the 92 kW hydrogen fuel cells powering it.

The whisper-quiet electric engines emit around two gallons of water per hour as a byproduct (which can come in handy in desert missions) instead of greenhouse gases. The electric engines are not only quieter than obnoxious diesel engines, they also run cooler, making them difficult to detect with thermal imaging technologies and ideal for military stealth operations.

Electric power also delivers high wheel torque, acceleration, and fuel efficiency. Another useful application, according to Techcrunch, is that the truck may potentially be used as a mobile power source for military equipment on missions in remote areas devoid of infrastructure.

Hydrogen is a great fuel source because it’s everywhere. You can find it in almost every other energy source, including renewable, natural gas, jet fuel, and even water. The difficulty is that hydrogen is difficult to store, requiring high-pressure containers and cooling. While there isn’t enough public infrastructure to support refueling a fleet of hydrogen-powered cars, the military has plenty of options and resources to set up forward operating fueling stations.

The Colorado ZH2 is just a prototype and is slated for extensive military field testing before the army decides to adopt it into service, so it may end up not being driven anywhere.

This isn’t the first hydrogen fuel cell collaboration between the company and the military. As we reported earlier, General Motors (which owns the Chevy brand) has also partnered with the US Navy to develop hydrogen-powered unmanned undersea vehicles (UUV), which are basically submarine drones.