The USA police department has announced that it will soon be fighting crime whilst saving the environment thanks to a new hybrid electric / petrol car.
Known as the Police Responder, Ford Motor Company says its new hybrid sedan, which is a modified Ford Fusion, is the world’s first hybrid car to receive ‘pursuit rating’.
The car averages more than twice the consumption of the current Police Interceptor with a rating of 38 miles a gallon when driven in the city and on highways. Ford also said that it’s estimates are that the Police department will save more than AU$3,300 on fuel for every car in it’s fleet over a year. This means that savings into the millions of dollars for forces with fleets of more than a thousand cruisers are certainly achievable.
Like most hybrids, the engine will shut off when the car stops, and the electrical load for lights, radios and other items will remain with the batteries.
Thomas Korabik, chief of the North Muskegon, Michigan, police department, said that he expects to cut costs for fuel consumption of it’s four cruisers by half of the AU$28,000 per year currently spent.
“Any time you can save money it is good”, he says, ” I’d want to see the car first and see how it would hold up.”
Arie Groenveld, Ford’s chief programme engineer for police vehicles, said:
“Having a pursuit rated green vehicle was what they were looking for. We expect this vehicle will grow our market share.”
The Hybrid Responder develops 140kW of power to drive the front wheels via an electronic continuously variable transmission. Ford says the setup for the Police Responder Hybrid has been recalibrated for “law enforcement’s unique duty cycle”, and is capable of operating in EV mode at up to 97km/h (60mph).
The Responder, which can accelerate from 0 – 100 in 8.8 seconds, is expected to be on the streets of Los Angeles and New York in the summer of 2018.
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