SOUTH
PASADENA, Calif., July 29,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The South Pasadena Police Department, today,
became the nation's first law enforcement agency to completely
replace its gasoline-powered vehicles with nonpolluting electric
vehicles.
The city's zero-emission police fleet of 20 new Teslas will rely
on a bank of new electric vehicle chargers installed at
South Pasadena City Hall.
Additionally, upon completion of the final electrification project
component, City Hall, the Police Station and the Fire Station
buildings will be backed up by a solar powered system with battery
storage adding critical power resilience in the event of an
outage.
"This transition reflects the city's vision of a sustainable
future based on both sound fiscal management and environmental
stewardship," said South Pasadena
Mayor Evelyn Zneimer. "The
City Council is fully behind this transition. We will have a
21st Century police force that is safe, clean and saves
taxpayer dollars. We're very excited to be working with our
regional and corporate partners to make this happen."
Regional air quality officials applauded the switch.
"Finishing the job of cleaning up the region's unhealthy smog
and protecting our atmosphere will require wholesale adoption of
vehicles that produce no emissions while driving," said South
Pasadena Councilmember and South Coast Air Quality Management
District (SCAQMD) Vice Chair Michael
Cacciotti. Cacciotti has been the key champion of the
effort. "We have been working on this for over a decade. We
finally got it right and the future for municipalities across the
country is clear. Partnering is the way to get big ideas
done. Our city is helping to make that a reality today."
"The Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee
(MSRC) is proud to have partnered with the City of South Pasadena on the
first-of-its-kind effort to transition an entire fleet of Police
cars to zero emission electric vehicles," said Larry McCallon, Chair of the MSRC and Mayor Pro
Tem of the City of Highland. "The MSRC provided nearly $500,000 in Clean Transportation Funding to this
clean air project, which furthers the MSRC's mission to improve air
quality and reduce harmful emissions from motor vehicles in the
South Coast Air District."
A Law Enforcement Paradigm Shift
The move points to a new paradigm for police organizations,
which traditionally have been reluctant to move from gasoline to
electric vehicles due to concerns about range, potential inability
to charge when the grid goes down, and worries that the technology
is new and unproven. Now, that's changed.
"Switching to these vehicles offers the Police Department the
opportunity to acquire a cutting-edge vehicle fleet," said
South Pasadena Police Chief
Brian Solinsky. "This initiative not
only ensures the safest vehicles for officers and staff but also
leads to substantial reductions in both fuel and maintenance
costs.
"Simultaneously, this transition enhances service levels for the
residents of South Pasadena by
minimizing maintenance downtime commonly seen with traditional gas
combustion engines."
According to City staff reports, the transition is expected to
save about $4,000 a year per vehicle
on energy costs, plus provide additional savings on maintenance,
such as brakes, oil changes, air filters, and more. Overall,
according to Solinsky, the operational cost of electric vehicles
will be at least half the per-mile cost of gasoline-powered
vehicles.
Working with partners to identify the right cars for the right
price was critical to this effort, "An organization's fleet can be
a clear indication of its values and priorities, and South Pasadena's strategy emphasizes its
dedication to sustainability and innovation," said Enterprise Fleet
Management Vice President, Southern
California, John Mills. "We
are proud to help South Pasadena
adopt an all-electric police fleet that better reflects its
objectives and saves costs along the way. This program sets a high
standard for other municipalities across the country."
To make the switch, Enterprise Fleet Management assisted the
city in acquiring 10 Tesla Model Ys as patrol vehicles and 10 Tesla
Model 3s for detective and administrative duties. The cars were
up-fitted for patrol and administrative police use through
Unplugged Performance's UP.FIT division.
All the vehicles have 5-star safety ratings—better than any gas
vehicle available for policing—which means the city's officers will
be as safe as possible in the field, according to Solinsky.
"We've had the pleasure of developing best in class
next-generation police vehicles alongside the great team at
South Pasadena Police Department,"
said Unplugged Performance CEO, Ben
Shaffer. "As a result, 20 turn-key UP.FIT Tesla Model Y
Pursuit and UP.FIT Tesla Model 3 Administrative vehicles have been
produced to replace the full fleet of aging ICE vehicles."
In addition to the advanced technology and performance, the
visual presentation of the new fleet has also been enhanced. Each
vehicle's sleek and modern graphics were designed by Anyone™
Collective, ensuring that the fleet's visual impact matches its
cutting-edge capabilities.
Charging Infrastructure Key
City officials noted that any successful shift to electric
transportation requires that the charging infrastructure go
hand-in-hand with vehicle acquisition.
A key component of the project was the construction of 34
chargers at South Pasadena City
Hall. Under its Charge Ready program, Southern California Edison
upgraded its local distribution system to supply the higher level
of power needed to energize the vehicles and installed the
underground wiring needed to install the chargers.
"Southern California Edison is committed to enabling
California's efforts to achieve a
clean energy future and improve air quality in the communities we
serve," said Jill C. Anderson,
executive vice president and COO for SCE. "We are excited to help
the city of South Pasadena expand
and prepare the local grid to charge its new police fleet through
our Charge Ready program. This program helps by providing financial
incentives, infrastructure and technical support to facilitate the
installation of EV charging stations. We want to thank all those
involved in this project who are helping to lead the way to a clean
energy future."
Health and Environmental Benefits
One of the city's key motivations in moving to EVs, according to
Cacciotti, was protecting public health and improving the
environment.
South Pasadena's electric
police fleet will cut both toxic smog-forming emissions of nitrogen
oxides, volatile organic compounds, and carbon monoxide, plus
emissions of carbon dioxide, the key driver of global heating.
"This is important, particularly in the Los Angeles area which still has the most
unhealthful air in the nation," said Cacciotti. "We hope other
police departments in the region and state will make the switch,
too."
Replacing gasoline-powered police and other public safety
vehicles with EVs, he added, is critical since they are
particularly high emitters. Police vehicles typically idle more
than other vehicles when officers make traffic stops or respond to
emergency calls, which greatly adds to emissions.
The gasoline engines must continue to run—which creates
pollution—just to power the cars' emergency lights, radios, and
other crucial equipment used in police cars. In contrast, EVs are
emissions-free while driving.
Resilient Public Safety
Clean Power Alliance's Power Ready Program provides another
important electrification component to South Pasadena's City Hall project through the
installation of a renewable solar and battery energy storage
system, at no cost to the City. Stored energy will provide for the
continuity of operations for essential services during power
outages. In addition to installing a solar system canopy over the
adjacent parking lot, CPA will reserve a portion of battery
capacity in case of an outage and the batteries will be used daily
for grid and energy optimization – participating in demand response
events and increasing overall system reliability.
Costs to Be Carefully Measured
More than half the cost of the electrification project is being
met by the City's project partners, including:
- Nearly $500,000 in Clean
Transportation Funding from the Mobile Source Air Pollution
Reduction Review Committee (MSRC);
- Approximately $530,000 in work
conducted by Southern California Edison under its Charge Ready
program; and
- No cost solar and battery storage system from the Clean Power
Alliance's Power Ready Program – a Local Programs benefit to CPA's
member agencies.
The city's net expense is $1.85
million, which covers the cost of the EV chargers and
lease payments to Enterprise Fleet Management.
To monitor costs and savings, ensure long-term fleet health, and
manage vehicles day-to-day, the city has partnered with Standard
Fleet. Collaborating with UP.FIT, Standard Fleet's advanced
software offers complete control over charging, maintenance, and
dispatching of the customized Tesla vehicles used by the police
force. Chief Solinsky highlighted the system's crucial role in
effectively managing their electric police fleet.
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SOURCE City of South
Pasadena