Battery Electric Vehicle News / Enjoying the Transportation Revolution

Martyn1981

shinytop said:

Martyn1981 said:

On the subject of UK police, the take up varies between forces, here's a useful article from last autumn giving some detail on the number of EV's that have gone into service. Certainly popular in Gloucestershire with over 80, and 99 for the Met but some forces don't have any. Also interesting to see that whilst there are (were) 430 EV's, there are twice as many chargers. The Met have 264 chargers!

Electric police cars in the UK: exclusive survey plots forces’ EV uptake

Police forces in the UK have more than 430 electric vehicles on their fleets and in excess of 808 chargers. These numbers are not evenly spread among forces, however, with some constabularies having adopted large numbers of EVs and others none at all.

Among the 26 forces that do run EVs, the Nissan Leaf proves to be the most popular, with 117 of these in operation. The BMW i3, Nissan e-NV200 and Vauxhall Corsa-e are also highly popular choices, with 87, 71 and 60 of these vehicles featuring in police fleets respectively.

Most of the EVs used by police forces are cars, but we were told about a number of vans and motorcycles as well.

I was interested in the percentage rather than the numbers and came across this (admittedly slightly older) article.

https://www.sparksunderland.com/2021/12/02/police-ev-investigation/

Police Scotland were a bit more forthcoming, which maybe explains the higher number.  It's not a lot out of a total of over 31,000 though.  

Thanks, that's quite promising at ~3% in late 2021, probably about the same, or marginally ahead of the whole UK fleet average?

Post office vans must be a good opportunity. We've got a lot of BEV buses and rubbish trucks now in Cardiff.

shinytop

Martyn1981 said:

shinytop said:

Martyn1981 said:

On the subject of UK police, the take up varies between forces, here's a useful article from last autumn giving some detail on the number of EV's that have gone into service. Certainly popular in Gloucestershire with over 80, and 99 for the Met but some forces don't have any. Also interesting to see that whilst there are (were) 430 EV's, there are twice as many chargers. The Met have 264 chargers!

Electric police cars in the UK: exclusive survey plots forces’ EV uptake

Police forces in the UK have more than 430 electric vehicles on their fleets and in excess of 808 chargers. These numbers are not evenly spread among forces, however, with some constabularies having adopted large numbers of EVs and others none at all.

Among the 26 forces that do run EVs, the Nissan Leaf proves to be the most popular, with 117 of these in operation. The BMW i3, Nissan e-NV200 and Vauxhall Corsa-e are also highly popular choices, with 87, 71 and 60 of these vehicles featuring in police fleets respectively.

Most of the EVs used by police forces are cars, but we were told about a number of vans and motorcycles as well.

I was interested in the percentage rather than the numbers and came across this (admittedly slightly older) article.

https://www.sparksunderland.com/2021/12/02/police-ev-investigation/

Police Scotland were a bit more forthcoming, which maybe explains the higher number.  It's not a lot out of a total of over 31,000 though.  

Thanks, that's quite promising at ~3% in late 2021, probably about the same, or marginally ahead of the whole UK fleet average?

Post office vans must be a good opportunity. We've got a lot of BEV buses and rubbish trucks now in Cardiff.

 I think the PO is miles ahead of the police.  Our postie has an EV van

https://www.moveelectric.com/e-cars/royal-mail-deploys-4000th-electric-van-part-ev-fleet-expansion

1961Nick

shinytop said:

Martyn1981 said:

shinytop said:

Martyn1981 said:

On the subject of UK police, the take up varies between forces, here's a useful article from last autumn giving some detail on the number of EV's that have gone into service. Certainly popular in Gloucestershire with over 80, and 99 for the Met but some forces don't have any. Also interesting to see that whilst there are (were) 430 EV's, there are twice as many chargers. The Met have 264 chargers!

Electric police cars in the UK: exclusive survey plots forces’ EV uptake

Police forces in the UK have more than 430 electric vehicles on their fleets and in excess of 808 chargers. These numbers are not evenly spread among forces, however, with some constabularies having adopted large numbers of EVs and others none at all.

Among the 26 forces that do run EVs, the Nissan Leaf proves to be the most popular, with 117 of these in operation. The BMW i3, Nissan e-NV200 and Vauxhall Corsa-e are also highly popular choices, with 87, 71 and 60 of these vehicles featuring in police fleets respectively.

Most of the EVs used by police forces are cars, but we were told about a number of vans and motorcycles as well.

I was interested in the percentage rather than the numbers and came across this (admittedly slightly older) article.

https://www.sparksunderland.com/2021/12/02/police-ev-investigation/

Police Scotland were a bit more forthcoming, which maybe explains the higher number.  It's not a lot out of a total of over 31,000 though.  

Thanks, that's quite promising at ~3% in late 2021, probably about the same, or marginally ahead of the whole UK fleet average?

Post office vans must be a good opportunity. We've got a lot of BEV buses and rubbish trucks now in Cardiff.

 I think the PO is miles ahead of the police.  Our postie has an EV van

https://www.moveelectric.com/e-cars/royal-mail-deploys-4000th-electric-van-part-ev-fleet-expansion

Our Postie also has an electric van.

NigeWick

shinytop said:

 I think the PO is miles ahead of the police.  Our postie has an EV van

A couple of years ago, our local distribution centre asked me for advice as the posties knew I have a BEV.

orrery

Martyn1981 said:

On the subject of UK police, the take up varies between forces, here's a useful article from last autumn giving some detail on the number of EV's that have gone into service. Certainly popular in Gloucestershire with over 80...

The Gloucester one is now quite old and was the initiative of the PCC, in a new building where the infrastructure was built in. He was displaced by a Tory who was clear that there would be no more EVs on his watch.

I'd engaged with my local force and got one EV on trial, then Covid hit, so it sat in a car park. There is no more progress because there is a trial going on at a number of forces - Northampton is one, I believe - and the outcome is being awaited.

JKenH

There are a few stories floating around suggesting EVs on UK police forces are not an overwhelming success.

https://policymogul.com/key-updates/24234/scottish-lib-dems-more-than-20-police-stations-with-evs-but-no-chargers

https://www.fleetnews.co.uk/news/latest-fleet-news/electric-fleet-news/2022/07/06/electric-police-cars-running-out-of-charge-responding-to-emergencies

silverwhistle

They won't be a success if they are set up to fail, there's nothing inherently wrong with EVs as their use by police forces all over the world testifies.

In the first case looks like the procurement was a shambles. In the second I'd be interested in what the Fleet Manager had to say as they should have decent stats on average mileages and usage patterns. If my local police force can't even attend  £10,000+ burglaries (and £150,000 until threatened with the press) perhaps they aren't very good at plugging in either.

JKenH

I agree there is nothing inherently wrong with EVs, in fact they may be far better for many routine tasks performed by police officers particularly in urban areas. It is the infrastructure we are lacking. We can’t get away from that at the moment.  I suspect many police stations may be located in areas where the local grid supply just can’t cope with the installation of multiple rapid chargers which is what would be needed for a fleet of police vehicles.

Some vehicles could be charged overnight on fast chargers but that would still most probably require a significant upgrading of the supply.

The fact that while several police forces have adopted EVs and others haven’t might just be down to a consideration of practicalities rather than ideology. Your EV works for you but mine didn’t for me. That could just as easily be the case with different police forces. 

Edit: here is a more balanced look at EV adoption in police forces in the UK. 

https://www.sparksunderland.com/2021/12/02/police-ev-investigation/

JKenH

England to support EV drivers with giant roadside batteries

A contract for £8m worth of Energy Storage Systems – essentially giant battery packs – has been awarded to Ameresco, who will upgrade seven motorway service areas where the grid supply is not enough for high-powered charging infrastructure.

Supported by Costain, it’s hoped the move will help bring an end to ‘charge anxiety’ by improving access to chargepoints across England’s motorways at sites with poor national grid connectivity for EV drivers. The priority sites include Beaconsfield on the M40, Corley on the M6 Northbound, Clacket Lane on the M25, both Eastbound and Westbound, Maidstone on the M20, Taunton on the M5 Northbound and Tebay on the M6 Northbound.

https://www.traffictechnologytoday.com/news/electric-vehicles-ev-infrastructure/england-to-support-ev-drivers-with-giant-roadside-batteries.html

Martyn1981

silverwhistle said:

They won't be a success if they are set up to fail, there's nothing inherently wrong with EVs as their use by police forces all over the world testifies.

In the first case looks like the procurement was a shambles. In the second I'd be interested in what the Fleet Manager had to say as they should have decent stats on average mileages and usage patterns. If my local police force can't even attend  £10,000+ burglaries (and £150,000 until threatened with the press) perhaps they aren't very good at plugging in either.

Yes, but the news like stories that grab attention, and 'BEV works OK, saves a bit of money', isn't scary enough these days, with all the fear and negativity when it comes to change.

I read a fictional police story a while back set in the US, and talking about problems that a department had with BEV's. They got BMW i3's for their detectives, which would be fine for their average mileage. But of course ..... you can see what's coming ..... averages don't work for detectives, who may do little to nothing outside the dept one day, then drive around multiple stops for several hundred miles the next. So the fleet was mothballed for ages. Then some redistributed to those with more predictable runs, the example given in the book, being forensic teams, who have an area they cover, and tend to make single return to base trips each time. Most were auctioned off, and sold fast.

I looked it up, as the detail seemed too good, and it's absolutely true, LAPD. Can't help thinking they should have gone for the Rx version. The BMW's were chosen over Tesla's, but this was back in 2016, and the Tesla S's may have worked better, but would have cost a lot more.