Green light for electric police car

Senior Constables Andrew Camp (left) and Greg Dunne will be patrolling southern roads with the new BMW i4EV highway patrol car. Photo / Gregor Richardson

Dunedin’s thin blue line is turning green.

The keys to a BMW i4EV were handed over to Dunedin police yesterday.

It is set to become the first electric vehicle to be used by the force in the Otago region and will be deployed to the highway patrol.

New Zealand Police fleet service manager Inspector Brian Yanko, speaking at yesterday’s unveiling, said the first police electric vehicle nationally was introduced about eight weeks ago and since then police received a flood of positive feedback from the officers in the cars.

“It’s quick and very responsive - a very fun drive,” Inspector Yanko said.

The EVs were still in the trial stage.

When they started getting results back from the trial, it would help them gauge what other areas the police could look at for EV use, he said.

The new vehicle will be based primarily at the Dunedin Central police station, which had a new charging station installed.

“It will also be using public infrastructure, so you might see this vehicle parked out in public, topping up to get through the shift,” he said.