The local Police Department in Easthampton, Massachusetts has received approval to purchase two Model Y police cruisers for its fleet — reports the Daily Hampshire Gazette.
The all-electric crossovers will be retrofitted into police cruisers before replacing two of the Easthampton Police Department’s gas-powered Ford Interceptor fleet vehicles.
According to Conservation Agent Cassie Tragert, the switch will save the city about $5,600 USD in annual fuel costs and reduce the PD’s annual gasoline usage by 1,858 gallons. An electric vehicle (EV) also offers significant savings in maintenance costs by not requiring much.
Easthampton has an ongoing commitment to replace all of its municipal vehicles with the most fuel-efficient alternatives available. “As a green community, we need to keep pursuing avenues to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. Switching as many cars as we can to electric vehicles is a positive thing we can do in that favor,” said Tragert.
During a public hearing on May 18, the Easthampton City Council approved an $89,864 USD appropriation from free cash for the project. The Model Y itself will cost $56,940, and retrofitting it into a police cruiser will cost another $24,129. The remaining $8,795 will go towards the installation of two EV charging stations.
Funding for the second Model Y will come from the Easthampton Police Department’s federal drug forfeiture account.
The city was also able to obtain $15,000 from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources Green Communities Designation & Grant Program for the purchase. Easthampton is one of 64 municipalities in the state that will receive grant funding for clean energy projects.
“We’ve been always working hard to try to get environmentally friendly vehicles and this is a good start, and we’re getting a lot of federal help for it,” said City Councilor Dan Rist.
One of the two Model Y police cruisers will be used by the Easthampton PD’s traffic bureau, while the other will serve either the administrative division or the detectives bureau, said Police Chief Robert Alberti. He added that the city will place orders for the two Model Y units sometime next week.
EV adoption in U.S. municipalities has been on a constant uptrend as local governments look to phase out gas guzzlers and rein in their carbon footprint. Easthampton isn’t even the first in Massachusetts to buy an all-electric police cruiser. Last year, the town of Ipswich also bought a Model Y for its Police Department.
At the end of last year, New York City approved a whopping $12.4 million in funding for Tesla police cruisers. Tesla’s EVs are gaining so much traction with the police that Ford, maker of the Interceptor utility vehicles that comprise the bulk of Police Department fleets across the U.S., wants to follow in Tesla’s footsteps with all-electric police cruisers of its own.
