Police Departments Go Electric

While many cops patrol in Ford Crown Victorias, Dodge Chargers, and Chevrolet Tahoes, others are cruising in much greener electric powered vehicles. Part of the reason is that, just like everyone else, police departments are being affected by unstable fuel costs and tight budgets.

Traditional police cars do a lot of things well. They can carry several officers in air conditioned comfort, handle high speed pursuits, carry bad guys off to jail, or support a huge array of high-priority missions without complaint. The penalty is high fuel consumption, especially when idling, just to have the capability for these missions and, of course, the rare hot pursuit. Taking one Crown Victoria out of service can save a police department $4,000 to $5,000 in fuel costs annually.

Not all missions require high power and departments are looking at options. Connellsville, Pennsylvania has converted an Impala police car to electric power. Other departments are having similar thoughts. Additionally, electric powered transport like electrically-assisted bikes, Segway Personal Transporters, Blue-RIDEs, and T3 Mobility Vehicles are great for community policing. They offer the advantage of cops on foot beats but allow them to patrol a much greater area and get to a crime scene faster, especially in congested cities.

Several law enforcement agencies and many security services are using neighborhood electric vehicles (NEVs) . Besides being quiet and fuel efficient, these low speed electric vehicles allow a more low key interaction with the public. Creature comforts like doors, defroster, and heater are among the many options available in some NEVs like the popular GEM, while these features can be found as standard in other models. Both NEVs and slower golf cars are widely used for parking enforcement duty.

Manufacturers of electric multi-passenger vans like the Miles ZK40, e-Ride EXV4 Electric Transport Vehicle, and Tiger Truck are targeting the law enforcement market. These electric vehicles are well suited for administrative travel, traffic duty, canine units, victim assistance, and even transporting prisoners between jail and court. Indeed, the Dymac Vehicle Group is currently designing a electric prisoner transport for the California State Department of Corrections.

Electric scooters, especially those with near-motorcycle performance, could replace motorcycles in cities for jobs like traffic enforcement. An example is the Vectrix, called the world's first pure-performance electric maxi-scooter, which is really more motorcycle than scooter. Police departments in Sacramento, California; Providence, Rhode Island, New York, and London are pilot testing Vectrix maxi-scooters. The NYPD already has over 300 Piaggio electric scooters in use for patrolling parks, policing street demonstrations, and directing traffic.

Often, police have to use dirt bikes to access rugged and remote area. The Zero X is a serious off-road motorcycle with the performance of a traditional gasoline dirt bike, but without the noise, pollution, or need for sometimes costly gasoline. According to its manufacturer, performance is similar to a 250 cc gasoline powered off-road motorcycle.

Highway capable electric cars could be in future police fleets. Initially, they will be used, and indeed already are being tried, in other countries where gasoline is much more expensive. For instance, the police in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan have a Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car on duty (as pictured at the beginning of this article).

Law enforcement is already trying out electric drive fuel cell vehicles. Indeed, a while back, Sgt. Frank Smith of the Wayne State University police in Detroit is credited with making the first traffic stop in a Mercedes A-Class F-Cell vehicle.

Want to know more about electric cars? Be sure to check out these articles on GreenCar.com:
Trends: Daimler Fields Electric Cars
Korean E-Zone Neighborhood Electric Car
5 Things You Need to Know About Neighborhood Electric Vehicles