Blog · Procurement and Selection Guides
Evaluating Total System Cost
The purchase price is the smallest part of a UAV system's cost. The rest is what you spend operating it for three years.
Overview
- Count: purchase, spares, batteries over their service life, training, support, and the crew's time.
- Batteries are a recurring cost that surprises buyers; ask for the expected cycle life and the replacement price.
- Crew time is usually the largest line, and it scales with how much the system demands of the operator.
- Software subscriptions and data infrastructure are easy to forget and hard to remove later.
Related pages
- Industrial MultirotorView
- Heavy-Lift and Civil LogisticsView
- Production StrengthView
- Development Testing and DeliveryView
More in this area
- Enterprise Drone Procurement ChecklistRead
- How to Compare Loaded EnduranceRead
- How to Compare Payload CapacityRead
- Evaluating Total System CostThis page
- Choosing an Imaging PayloadRead
- How to Assess Supplier DocumentationRead
- Checking Test Reports and Their ScopeRead
- Comparing After-sales and Training ProgramsRead
- How to Organize Equipment AcceptanceRead
- What to Provide for an Overseas Project QuoteRead