Batteries on the Battlefield: Estimating the Fully Burdened Cost of Batteries in the DoD

Abstract

According to Department of Defense (DoD) and Secretary of the Navy (SecNav) instructions, acquisition decisions should be based on analysis that considers both the costs and benefits of different courses of action. A recent change to DoD Instruction (DODI) 5000.02, the DoD's regulations on the acquisition of new systems, specifically calls for its agencies to consider the fully burdened energy costs in all trade-offs involving costs and benefits. Defense ground, air, and maritime platforms, as well as communications and network systems, all use a variety of renewable and disposable energy sources. Past analyses conducted by the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Cost and Economics (ODASA-CE) and the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition Technology and Logistics (OUSD(AT&L)) have developed methodologies to calculate the fully burdened cost of fuel as delivered energy in defense systems. Whereas these previous studies did not consider other energy sources such as batteries, this thesis contributes to the DoD area of knowledge in estimating lifecycle costs of systems by developing a methodology to estimate the fully burdened cost of batteries.