K3 Main Battle Tank

[Shadow Reaper]

Lots of innovation here, but the most surprising thing is the hydrogen fuel cell/electric drive unit. The article drops the ball on this and fails to note the HP they intend, size of battery, whether they are planning on the new solid state batteries, etc. in fact at one point it says “fuel cell” and at another it says “diesel”, which is obviously a contradiction. Likewise, they state it is lightweight but then say 55 tons. Again, more PR than reality.

Perhaps the biggest surprise is it’s a Hyundai. Whoda thunk looking at an Elantra they could build something like this? Or did they? The article does not state whether this is in prototype or drawing board. Can’t call that “journalism”.

The New K3 Tank Looks Like a B-21 Raider Bomber and Runs on Hydrogen

South Korea's K3 tank breaks the mold with hydrogen fuel cells, AI, and drones. See how this "6th-gen" concept aims to leapfrog the M1 Abrams.

www.19fortyfive.com

 

[Aramsolari]

Hyundai making tanks isn’t a surprise at all. Their Hyundai Rotem subsidiary has been making tanks and other armoured vehicles for decades now (along with their bread/butter civilian trains and rolling stock).

it’s a Chaebol (Mega corporation) like the Japanese Keiretsus (ie Mitsubishi). They’ve always been involved in one way or another in defence related products.

They’re basically real life MegaCorps from the Cyberpunk world.

 

[BUTUZ]

Yes - you know its proper cyberpunk mega corp mitsubishi when you can buy:

Car
Plane
Train
Boat
Tonk
Air Con/Heat pump for your house
TV
Spy Satellite
Robot butler
Nuclear power plant
Elavator for your hotel


Could probably just keep typing random words and they'd do that too

 

[Aramsolari]

Yes - you know its proper cyberpunk mega corp mitsubishi when you can buy:

Car
Plane
Train
Boat
Tonk
Air Con/Heat pump for your house
TV
Spy Satellite
Robot butler
Nuclear power plant
Elavator for your hotel


Could probably just keep typing random words and they'd do that too

You forgot Main Battle Tanks and Assault Rifles!

 

[Vavrik]

You forgot Main Battle Tanks and Assault Rifles!

Tonk = Tank. There was a video quite some time ago, with a French speaking CIG employee... he said Tonk. It stuck.

in fact at one point it says “fuel cell” and at another it says “diesel”, which is obviously a contradiction. Likewise, they state it is lightweight but then say 55 tons. Again, more PR than reality.

Read the whole article. That engine basically burns anything that burns.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I read it. Fuel cells do not produce mechanical motion. They generate electricity, so “fuel cell” and “diesel” is a contradiction.

Hydrogen fuel cell cars, trucks, busses, would all have wondrous range, which is a key limiting factor for tanks; but storing and handling hydrogen is far too dangerous for commercial use. In the military it could make good sense.

 

[BUTUZ]

Yeah everyone that bangs on about hydrogen seems to forget it's literally a massive bomb sitting under your rear seats (kids butts).

It's also incredibly inefficient - wasting 50% of the hydrogen during conversion to electric.

I have a full EV (old tesla) and a few other fuel cars. I just can't see hydrogen cells as a valid worldwide method of transport. Like you say maybe in the military where their needs and supply chains are specialised.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Even with heavy efficiency losses in the fuel cell, hydrogen stores an immense energy by weight, and when you add the new solid state hydrogen storage it stores enormous energy by volume. Solid state storage is basically forcing hydrogen into a metallic lattice so that it is essentially stored in solid form, which has the molecules much closer than even liquid. That’s near miracle technology.

The big problem is to ship it and port it, it needs to be in liquid form, which is like -250*C. That’s just wayyy too fucking dangerous for a low IQ pump jockey to deal with. Hence—will never have a commercial use.

There is a new solid state storage solution being worked for methane that could be a game changer. We get most of our hydrogen from breaking down methane, so methane is cheaper. Solid state methane requires something like -20*C which is NOT dangerous to port. We have minimal training required to pump methane at the nearest hardware store or U-Haul. So that’s a doable solution.

 

[Yex]

Yeah everyone that bangs on about hydrogen seems to forget it's literally a massive bomb sitting under your rear seats (kids butts).

Never understood why we don't just have swap in swap out battery stations, who charge your old battery to put in someone else's EV later.

I don't want to USB charge my TV remote for 3hrs, I want to just stick new batteries in and use it. We have the technology! AA all the way
I entirely don't care it's someone elses battery, as long as it does the job until it runs out.

 

[BUTUZ]

Funny you should mention that my old Tesla Model S has a hot swappable battery pack - they made it all hot swappable but then didn't build the hot swap stations. I guess it would have been a logistical nightmare and easier to just leave it up to the customer to charge.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Never understood why we don't just have swap in swap out battery stations, who charge your old battery to put in someone else's EV later.

Batteries age by growing “dendrites” off the anode, that eventually cause the battery to age and short out. So there is a huge difference between your year old battery and someone else’s 5 year old battery, both in lifetime left and how much charge it will hold.

There is a new battery planned for limited release in China and Germany this year that has a solid instead of a fluid inside, and charging it destroys these dendrites. The battery has such a long lifetime that it is greater than the lifetime of a car, and it charges in 5 minutes. It also works across a much larger thermal bandwidth, so doesn’t need to be heated and doesn’t lose performance unless it goes below -20*C.

So yeah, if the tales are true we’ll have the electric cars we were promised 15 years ago quite soon. The batteries are scheduled for release in the US in 2027-2028. You can search “solid state batteries”.