U.S. Army officials are buying electric-powered trucks that can cost three times as much as the vehicles they replace even though the manufacturer admits its batteries are like those that have experienced fires during development tests by other automakers.

The Army EV trucks are part of the Department of Defense’s response to President Obama’s May 2011 Executive Order requiring that the entire federal fleet of vehicles use alternative fuels by 2015. Federal civilian agencies have nearly 60,000 cars and trucks. The Department of Defense is estimated to have more than 185,000 vehicles of all types.