The government of New York City announced that it has acquired 184 electric Mustang Mach-E vehicles from Ford for use by law enforcement and emergency response departments. In addition, the NYC government is expected to procure as many as 250 Model 3s as patrol cars for the NYPD.

The NYC’s DCAS (Department of Citywide Administrative Services) recently announced that it had finalized a contract with Ford for 184 battery electric Mustang Mach-E for law enforcement and emergency services departments, including the NYPD, the Department of Corrections, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, among others, all of which will starting officially utilizing EVs.

Furthermore, DCAS also separately confirmed with the media that it will purchase about 250 Tesla Model 3 vehicles for patrol-use by various departments, including primarily the NYPD, which will use said vehicles as patrol cars.

The contract stipulates that the NYC will take deliveries on all ordered electric Mustangs by June 30, 2022. On the other hand, as the Tesla contract has yet to be finalized, neither has the final delivery date.

The NYC government’s early decision to green the city involves adopting BEVs as all official vehicles in the city by 2035. These vehicles include garbage trucks, tour buses, and ferries. Of the 30,000 vehicles owned across all governmental units, the police department accounts for the highest share with 6,200 vehicles.

The NYPD currently has only a single Model 3, used as a test patrol car. Should the police fleet become electrified on a large scale, this would have a remarkable effect on future efforts to promote the electrification of the entire city’s vehicles. The contract between the NYC government and Ford is expected to amount to US$11.5 million. Ford will not only deliver the vehicles, but also need to complete a host of testing, maintenance, siren/light modifications, and most importantly charging equipment installations, all of which are required for these police vehicles.

The NYC government has already installed 29 fast charging stations for NYPD and 103 for other departments. For 2022, the government is expected to install another 275 fast charging stations for official use. As part of the US$420 million electrification budget, the NYC will establish 1,776 publicly owned fast charging stations, 100 of which will be available for use by the general public while the rest will be allocated to the government fleet. Given the current fleet of 30,000 government vehicles, a single charging station will need to support 17 vehicles on average.

 (Image: Twitter)