How much did the AEV Cost?

To complete the AEV project, a budget of $500K has been given to each group, which will be used when building the AEV as well as how much it will cost to run two times.

Capital Costs:

Each AEV distributed will automatically have a flatline as well as an additional price for any custom parts made.

Run calculation:

To calculate how much each run will cost, the energy used as well as the how much time the AEV was on the track will be considered. There is a baseline cost of $125k for energy and an additional cost of $500 per joule that is used during testing. For time cost, there is a flat cost of $90k with an additional $1.5k for every second the AEV is on the track. For the accuracy penalty, the inverse of the team’s score will be used. For example, Team C received a 37/40, so the inverse being 40/37 = 1.08 which means each runs cost will be multiplied by 1.08.

R&D Costs:

While progressing through the project, open lab times were available to groups who needed them at a price of $25K for every 60 minutes used. In Group C’s case, multiple lab times were used leading to a total of $33,333 added on to the cost.

Safety Violations:

If during any of the runs there was a saftey violation such as no one taking a position to ensure the AEV stayed on track and could take it off if needed or if the AEV malfunction and caused a safety concern.

Total Cost:

As shown in the diagram above, the AEV had a total cost of 3 times the allowed budget at $1.6 million due to its weight, amount of joules used, the slightly increased accuracy score, and the additional lab time used.