The U.S. Department of Defense plans to purchase about 92,000 electric vehicles by 2020 that would be used in overseas combat

According to a recent report by Navigant Research, the U.S. Department of Defense will purchase approximately 92,000 electric vehicles by 2020.

The report, “Alternative Drive Vehicles for Military Applications,” looks at the how tactical and non-tactical military fleets are approaching the alternative fuel vehicle market. The report discusses the military’s use of hybrid electric, plug-in electric, and ethanol-powered vehicles, and attempts to predict how the institution will utilize these types of technologies at the end of the decade.

“In remote theaters of operations, the cost of moving fuels to forward military locations can be a multiple of the cost of the fuel itself,” says Scott Shepard, research analyst with Navigant Research. “The military’s approach to reducing fossil fuel consumption from non-tactical operations includes acquiring increasing numbers of vehicles powered by ethanol blend and biodiesel blend fuels; but the majority of the investment will go toward HEVs and PEVs.”

Navigant Research sees military spending on alternative fuel vehicles for the non-tactical fleet to increase from more than $435 million in 2013 to $926 million by 2020, with a majority of the increased spending made towards the purchase of hybrid electric and plug-in electric vehicles.