Batteries on the Battlefield: Developing a Methodology to Estimate the Fully Burdened Cost of Batteries in the Department of Defense
Abstract
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, or 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 life cycle costs of systems by developing a methodology to estimate the fully burdened cost of batteries. The BA-5590, a high demand, DoD-specific, lithium sulfur dioxide battery was studied to develop a methodology to understand the burdens that affect battery costs. Burden elements developed for this study differ from the metric developed from the fully burdened cost of fuel methodologies and reflect the variable nature of battery types, the lack of dedicated transport vehicles for batteries, the more complicated acquisition process for batteries, and the variable nature of battery usage. The six burden elements are as follows: Acquisition, Transportation, Depreciation, Storage, Disposal, and Usage. The methodology developed the fully burdened cost of batteries based on two scenarios. Under a Continental U.S. training scenario, the base case fully burdened costs of the BA-5590 are an additional 9.3% of the contract price of the batteries. Under an operational scenario, the BA-5590s fully burdened costs are an additional 12.85% of the contract price of the batteries.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA524719
Entities
People
- Anthony E. Hughley
- Mark R. Mcclellan
- Troy O. Kiper
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School