Guelph Police are getting greener.
The force’s first hybrid cruiser, a Ford Fusion, is set to take to the road next week and three hybrid SUV’s to be used by front-line officers are ordered and expected early this summer.
Jim Turow, who manages the Guelph Police vehicle fleet, hopes that within the next few years all of the force’s 35 patrol vehicles will be hybrids.
Turow estimates that would save the force roughly $50,000 annually in fuel costs.
“The manufacturer’s have guaranteed us 25 per cent fuel savings, but we think it will be much more,” Turow said.
“If the numbers are coming in correctly, you can almost save the extra cost of a hybrid in a year of fuel savings,” Turow said.
Good for the environment and good for saving money, Turow said.
Guelph Police cruisers are also changing their color scheme, with one similar to the black and white used by OPP cruisers.
The hybrid cruiser costs around $6,000 more than a non-hybrid cruiser, but those costs can be recouped in gas savings, Turow said.
“We’re trying to cut idling way down,” Turow said. “Everyone knows police idle. Unfortunately the equipment they’re running, the cruisers need to be on.”
With hybrids, all the police equipement, plus heating and cooling, can remain working without a gas engine running.
Turow said U.S. data shows that on the average police shift, cruisers are idling 60 per cent of the time they are running.
“A hybrid virtually eliminates idling,” he said.
“Idling is also when emissions are at their highest,” said Guelph Police Insp. Scott Green. “When you eliminate idling, you eliminate so many things.”
Police cruisers have a life span of three to three-and-a-half years, Turow said. Hybrids will likely last longer too.
No performance is sacrificed in a hybrid vehicle. The only criticism some front-line officers find the current sedan model that’s available can be a little small once all their equipment is installed.
“When they see the handling and the performance is still there, I think people will get used to it,” Turow said.
