Residents will soon see an electric vehicle patrolling its streets in Northfield, Minnesota. The Northfield Police Department took delivery of its first EV police vehicle earlier this week, a Ford Mustang Mach-E.
Although the order keeps up with the city’s plan to decarbonize, the Police Chief is a little worried about using the Mach-E for police duties.
He noted that for specific duties, the Mach-E could present a unique challenge:
“We don’t have a detox center, and we have to drive about 60 miles to get to any of those. So that’s 120 miles round trip. If you’re doing that at the end of a shift when you’ve already used a lot of battery life, that may be a challenge,” he said. (via KYMN)
However, the Mach-E is equipped with a second lithium-ion battery to power the police systems, which include computers, cameras, and lighting. So, the vehicle’s overall range will not drop due to police operations.
The other question mark for the Police Chief is how the vehicle will perform as a police cruiser.
“We don’t have any early returns on it right now. So far, it seems to be okay. There aren’t any major issues that we’ve discovered, but our plan is to get a full two-year test on this.”
Hopefully, the Mustang Mach-E‘s performance can change the Police Chiefs’ tune and showcase that EVs can be the police car of the future in Minnesota.
