Labour is ploughing ahead with plans to use electric vehicles (EVs) for combat despite warnings it could put soldiers at risk.
The Ministry of Defence is set to ramp up the testing of battlefield EVs from next year at the Army’s Bovington Garrison in Dorset, according to the Telegraph.
This testing has been described by an insider as “putting these vehicles through their paces”, part of an experimental phase in a plan first raised by the Tories.
The government has granted more than £400,000 in contracts to Magtec, a defence firm that specialises in creating electric vehicles, since July.
Defence Secretary John Healey visited the firm’s design and manufacturing facility in south Yorkshire in October and was impressed with the company’s “creative flair to improve the battlefield performance and the environmental performance of military vehicles”.
The government has pledged to put net zero goals at the centre of its defence industrial strategy, launched this week during a policy reset.
It said the strategy would “support net zero, regional growth, and economic security and resilience”.
A government source added: “New and emerging technologies can support decarbonisation efforts and improve battlefield capability, reducing the supply chain vulnerability of liquid fuel and also reducing the heat signature and noise of vehicles on the battlefield.”
Asked about the possibility of an electric tank, they added: “Never say never.”
But on Saturday, military officials called for the government to reconsider the “crazy endeavour”, warning that the rush could put British troops at a disadvantage.
Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan, said: “What this amounts to is virtue signalling by MoD, trying to get into the climate change agenda.
“I suspect it will be wasting quite a lot of people’s time and resources in trying to show they are playing their part. At the moment the technology is just not there.
“It is hard enough to keep the current vehicles supplied with fuel, that is a massive operation on its own – I just can’t see how it would possibly work with EVs.
“Fighting battles is an extremely difficult activity – to make it unnecessarily even more difficult seems to be a crazy endeavour. I would be pretty confident that it is just not at all a starter in terms of maintaining the level of battleground capability that we have now.”
Admiral Lord West of Spithead, former First Sea Lord, said: “The aim must be to get war-winning equipment that we can use in the conditions we find ourselves fighting in; that enable us to fight, win and defeat enemies like Russia. That should be the aim of what we are developing.
“If they are saying we should have things that will achieve net zero, I don’t think that is the priority. We need things that we can use to fight and win – because we may well be at war in the next few years.
“I have a horrible feeling some people might be thinking net zero is so important, but that is not the important thing in warfare terms.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “The rapid advancement of electric vehicle technology has opened up new possibilities for military applications, with comprehensive trials in 2025 set to explore whether EVs can match or exceed the performance of conventional vehicles across battlefield operations.
“The Ministry of Defence remains committed to pursuing innovations that could enhance the operational effectiveness of our Armed Forces, while also supporting sustainability where possible.”
