Published on January 30, 2020

The City’s blue is going green: The Bath Police Department has purchased its first hybrid vehicle; a 2020 Ford Explorer Limited Hybrid. 

“As the City begins to look at our carbon footprint, we should be looking at ways to reduce it,” said Chief of Police Michael Field. “By purchasing a hybrid police vehicle, we believe it will significantly reduce our fuel usage and still allow us to serve the community well.”

Officer Brett McIntire researched the vehicle, which he estimates will save the City thousands of dollars over its lifetime. 

“The oldest car in our fleet has a total of 9,229 running engine hours,” he said. “5,825 of those hours were spent idling. It burns nearly a half gallon of fuel per hour when sitting at idle. The hybrid cruiser, on the other hand, burns less than a quarter gallon of fuel per hour while sitting at idle.”

The hybrid’s electric motor allows the gas engine to turn off while the car idles. McIntire estimates that the City will save more than $3,500 over the life of the vehicle just in idling fuel costs. If you add the hybrid’s superior fuel efficiency (the hybrid currently averages 17 mpg as opposed to 13-14 mpg in department’s non-hybrids) the savings start to add up. 

McIntire said the department will keep track of the hybrid’s performance over the next year. If satisfactory, the department may decide to transition the rest of its six-car patrol fleet to hybrid models.

“Right now we replace a car every 2 years, when it has about 100,000 miles on it. Those are hard miles; lots of stop and go, different drivers, traffic stops; lots of wear and tear. Even though the hybrid was a bit more expensive to purchase, the engine hours saving by the electric motor should extend the life of the vehicle another year or so,” said McIntire.

Bath joins police agencies from across the country, including the New York Police Department (which purchased its first hybrid police responder sedan in 2019 and aims to convert all of its 10,000 vehicles to electric or hybrid within the next five years) on the cutting edge of hybrid and electric technology. 

Photo: Off. Brett McIntire (Left) stands in front of the new hybrid with Cpl. Jason Aucoin (Right), who outfitted the cruiser.