Connellsville, PA shows off electric Chevy Impala police car
Being green is all the rage these days, but for some, it's also economical. That's the thought behind the Connellsville, PA Police Department's newest cruiser, a 2000 Chevrolet Impala converted into an all-electric vehicle. The car was just delivered to the precinct today from United First Responders, LLC, the company who built the prototype EV cop car and will be monitoring its use over the next two years. The electric fuzz buster will operate for a full eight hour shift on one charge, and using a 240-volt outlet will recharge fully in just two hours. On pure electrons, that 8-hour shift will cost the city only 35 cents, compared to between $3 and $4 for a gas-powered cruiser. The battery back will last about five years, but the car is limited by its aversion to heavy rain, which could damage the electrical circuits. That's a significant limitation they should look into fixing quickly, as criminals all over Connellsville will have a field day during Spring when April showers begin to fall.
Thanks to Dominick for the tip.
[Source: Tribune-Review]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Torqued 7:25PM (8/23/2007)
"On pure electrons, that 8-hour shift will cost the city only 35 cents, compared to between $3 and $4 for a gas-powered cruiser."
They only travel 15-20 miles in an 8 hour shift?
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TwistedKestrel 8:33PM (8/23/2007)
I think maybe the press mangled the cost of operating the car. I'm guessing it has nothing to do with the cost of electricity versus gas, but the cost of maintaining the vehicle distributed over its operating time. Like, if a car is used in two shifts a day, spread over a month, the maintenance costs would be about $240 for a gasoline vehicle, versus $21 for the electric.
DJ 7:26PM (8/23/2007)
"On pure electrons, that 8-hour shift will cost the city only 35 cents, compared to between $3 and $4 for a gas-powered cruiser"
Given that a gas powered Impala gets roughly 20MPG in combined driving and gas is about $3.00 per gallon, does that mean that in an 8 hour shift, the car is driven 20 to 25 miles TOTAL?
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Jared 7:30PM (8/23/2007)
Was gonna post the same thing, two beat me to it.
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Mark MacLeod 7:34PM (8/23/2007)
How many shifts does it take to recharge?
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Torqued 11:02PM (8/23/2007)
"using a 240-volt outlet will recharge fully in just two hours."
That's 1/4 of a shift, for those of you counting at home.
Mark MacLeod 11:12PM (8/23/2007)
I wish I had better reading skills :)
SPG 7:41PM (8/23/2007)
As a tax payer I'm generally annoyed that the city (not highway) police drive around in their Interceptor Crown Vic's, Explorer's, and Tahoe's. Those gas guzzling cars hardly seem appropriate with the environment the way it is and the very high Canadian gas prices (when I go to the USA I full up with at least mid grade and save money over what I pay here).
I'm very glad to see that there are more advances made towards police vechicles running with less gasoline. I hope all those Charger's and flex fuel Tahoe's make a difference. I think we all need it.
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JD 7:52PM (8/23/2007)
I'm guessing this car won't exactly be involved in many car chases...... hopefully.
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whofan 9:08PM (8/23/2007)
From my understanding, electric cars are fast. Is range the issue?
I know electric Fork trucks will out run gas ones from a stand still.
aman 8:13PM (8/23/2007)
And this thing is supposed to be involved in pursuits?
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motorman 8:54PM (8/23/2007)
all car companies use police and taxi companies for test beds of their cars. no one put more time and miles on a car under real conditions than the police or the cab company
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Kristovar 10:42PM (8/23/2007)
So maybe there's the off chance that GM is throwing in a little Volt technology for testing?
motorman 10:50PM (8/23/2007)
could be as this town is close to pittsburgh pa and i know GM tests there because of the hilly terrain. i also live close to both cities
Jack 11:32PM (8/23/2007)
Now all i need are those electricity killing spikes from Fast and Furious and i could run willy-nilly through Connellsville on a crime spree to end all.
wait, is there anything IN Connellsville aside from to many L's?
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Harrison 12:30AM (8/24/2007)
Well... there's people and an Amtrak station.
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TDIMeister 2:27AM (8/24/2007)
What is this cruiser's daily duty cycle?? The only way in heck 8 hours in a single charge is possible is 30 minutes driving from the precinct to a donut shop, 7 hours sitting there with the all the radio equipment on, and 30 minutes to drive back to the precinct.
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TDIMeister 2:55AM (8/24/2007)
Lets analyze the cost of running on electricity a bit more. Even if one assumes the most generous off-peak electricity rate of, say, 2 cents per kWh, 35 cents worth of electricity equals 17.5 kWh thats drawn off the grid per full charging cycle. That's 8.75 kW for each of the claimed 2 hours of charging time. 8.75 kW on a 240V outlet is drawing about 36.5 Amps from the grid on average.
17.5 kWh contains about 63 megajoules (about 59,700 BTU) of energy, equivalent to about 1.48 liters or 0.39 gallons of gasoline.
So it wasn't a joke when I said that much electricity is only good to drive to the donut shop and back!
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Hybridandy 9:18AM (8/24/2007)
I'll be damned, it's really weird to see something on the internet about the town you actually live in.
Keep in mind, this is a police station in a small town, not in a big city or big budget Hollywood movie, it's going to spend a majority of it's time in parking lots and side streets waiting for someone to go speeding past, run a redlight or get a call to show up somewhere. You could probably drive from one side of Connellsville to the other in less than 15 minutes, so they don't need to be constantly on the move.
It won't be involved in high speed pursuits, unless you've murdered someone or committed some other heinous crime, the police will try to pull you over, get your plate number and if you try to run, they'll probably let you go and just show up at your house later that night. They'll put too many other people in danger trying to chase you down for a $25 stoplight ticket.
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BRUNO TULLIANI 11:44AM (8/24/2007)
The only real long term answer to eco-friendly police cars are .........HYDROGEN......but the "tax-payer" will never foot the bill.....
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