Police Departments Increasingly Investigating Hybrids

The Westport, CT Police Department has received a donation of a Toyota Prius. In an effort to "green" its fleet, the WPD also added two bicycles that will be used to patrol the downtown Westport area. The Prius was a gift from New Country Toyota and is one of three planned hybrid vehicles for the WPD.

The vehicle will be used primarily for traffic and parking enforcement. In this capacity, it consumes about a gallon of fuel per day. The Prius is unlikely to see the same type of use that a standard police vehicle does, however. Toyota has already weighed in on the heavy-duty use of the Prius by New York taxi drivers, and cautions that the vehicle was not designed for near constant use. That hasn't stopped taxi companies from adding Priuses to their fleets, and initial reports show that the vehicle performs well even under heavy use regimens.

Westport isn't the first municipality to add hybrid vehicles to its fleet, although the typical choice for fleet use is the Ford Escape Hybrid. In 2005, Ford offered ten municipalities the use of a Mercury Mariner Hybrid patrol car. The Westwood, NJ Police Department added a 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid to its fleet last month and plans to use that vehicle in regular patrols. The Aspen, CO Police Department deployed a Toyota Highlander Hybrid earlier this year as a test case to evaluate the vehicle for regular patrol use.

According to the Westwood PD, the Escape Hybrid averages 20 miles per gallon in near-continuous use. The department's traditional Crown Victoria patrol cars have an average fuel economy of just 6 MPG.