By Julie D’Aloiso
Patrolman Tim Ellis has been the fleet manager in the Sagamore Hills Police Department for 12 years. Tim explained how the hunt for a new vehicle started: “Last year they were looking at purchasing a Dodge Charger because they were the least expensive of the vehicles. However, due to some production problems Chrysler was not able to fulfill the order. So they went back to the drawing board.” Tim did more research and looked at the Michigan State Test (which is conducted every year (see the test results here). Ford has been making hybrid vehicles for about 15 years. Based on this research, he proposed the purchase of the 2020 Ford Interceptor Utility Hybrid (Hudson has three of these vehicles).
This hybrid cruiser, gets 24 miles per gallon (view vehicle stats here). The current vehicles in their fleet get an average of 10 miles per gallon. These new hybrid vehicles idle with the air conditioning on for 50 minutes out of every hour without the engine running. It will periodically turn on the engine and charge the hybrid battery. It does not use the car battery. If the officer gets in and starts driving around the neighborhood the engine may not turn on. It will decide when to turn on if the officer needs to accelerate or whatever it needs to do.
In doing his research, their regular cruisers get 10 Miles per gallon and at $2.50/gal each cruiser is using about $5000 worth of gas per year. The new hybrid cruiser will get roughly double the gas mileage which will save the tax paying residents $2500 a year in fuel alone.
The option for the powertrain for this new cruiser cost $3500 and within a year and half it will have paid for itself. Tim said “When you keep a vehicle 6-7 years the return on investment will be between $15,000 and $17,000 dollars that you have saved over the course of the life of the vehicle.”
Tim also said “We also have a responsibility to make a sound decision as far as it comes to pollution and not wasting resources in Sagamore Township. I felt based on all of my research it was worth pursuing.”
So far the new cruiser is getting about 22.5 miles per gallon in patrol use. 10 miles per gallon is what they usually get with the traditional vehicles due to the idling the cars need to do.
This new hybrid vehicle has other savings as well. Tim explained: “When you are slowing down the hybrid system uses the electric motor to re-generate electricity, saving wear on the brakes. This means that the brakes will last longer.” Tim is expecting the new vehicle will need half as many brake jobs as the current fleet. He said: “Because the car does so little idling, the recommendations for oil changes are annually or when the dash tells you. I am expecting routine maintenance, brake jobs and oil changes to be cut at least in half. Over the course or 6 or 7 years that would contribute significantly to the savings on the vehicle.”
According to Tim, one of the concerns they had in purchasing a hybrid pursuit vehicle is the repair costs associated with the hybrid powertrain and battery.
He checked with Ford. This vehicle comes with a 8 year 100,000 mile full bumper-to-bumper warranty on the hybrid components. His residents (and he is a resident also) would not be happy with a huge repair bill at 70,000 miles.
Going forward, they are looking to replace one car in their fleet a year. I asked Tim if they would purchase one of these hybrid cars next year and he said would recommend it. But, the decision is not up to him. A lot of it would depend on the budget and other reasons.
When I asked about the cost of this vehicle, Tim said: “The base price of this new vehicle is $31,372 per state bid contract, which we follow. Hybrid motor option is $3,329. All police equipment added after delivery is additional, and varies depending on how much equipment we reuse from retiring vehicles.”
Tim also said: “We are a fiscally conservative department, we don’t waste money. If there is a way to save money we will do it. We could potentially save up to $20,000 by buying this car. They are getting more expensive, just like the civilian cars you buy. We are trying to keep them longer and operate them more efficiently.
I asked Tim what changes they had to make because of COVID-19 and he said: “They are following all of the state and local guidelines. But one important things to note: for most of the vehicles in the fleet, they purchased (two months ago) a new program that will disinfect the vehicle. Once engaged, it immediately raises the idle of the vehicle and turns on the heater full blast. It heats the vehicle to 130 degrees holds it there for 15 minutes and then activates the air conditioner to cool it down. The scientists have said that this temperature is not survivable for the virus. At the beginning of their shift they activate it while they are preparing inside. They will disinfect the vehicle after having a prisoner or someone else for any reason as well. Ford does not recommend spraying the interior due to the electronics in the vehicle.
More info about the hybrid vehicle here https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a27497594/2020-ford-police-interceptor-utility-hybrid-awd/
