Fusion Energi Cop Car - Indianapolis

[Dag]

At the annual tree lighting downtown Indianapolis i saw a Ford Fusion Energi Police Car!

 

I was at an intersection waiting for traffic to clear and right in front of me passed a Ford Fusion with police lights flashing. It caught my eye as a fusion police car which I thought was unique, then as I looked closer it clearly had the charge port and the energi badging.

 

It was black with very discrete lighting. Very cool. Perfect for those police chases of 26 miles or less :). I wish I had a photo, but it all happened so fast.

[Dag]

http://insideevs.com/indianapolis-buys-50-ford-fusion-energi-police-duty/

[Dag]

There is a good video here.

 

http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/indianapolis-police-rolling-out-50-hybrid-cars

Edited December 5, 2014 at 02:13 AM by Dag

[jetjam]

Seems like a waste to use an energi as a police cruiser.  How often could they possibly charge it, those cars are in use all day long. 

Wouldn't a normal hybrid be a better choice? 

[Dag]

I wonder how many chargers they have?

[murphy]

Maybe there is one installed at the donut shop. ;)

[smokewagon]

Murphy, I knew somebody was going to say that!  Got admit it was funny. lol :clapping:

 

smoke

[Rexracer]

If you read the article

"The plug-in Energis will be used by department administrators and detectives in the various police districts of Indianapolis."

 

so they wont be common patrol cars. Yes they will have lights and such, but they wont be sitting around looking for speeders, and hopefully never involved in high speed chase. ;-) 

 

Though I do question the author:

"Since then, he’s clocked 1,6000 miles, yet there’s still a quarter tank of gas left."

 

So is that 1,600 miles, or 16,000 miles?

 

and

"The Department of Public Safety calculates the annual fuel savings at $70,000 for the 50 Fusion Energis."

assuming they got SE's and got some sort of package discount, and got the federal tax credit, getting the price down to $30k per car, thats a 21 year pay off, not counting the higher price for the car.

 

Not sure how I feel about it, yes using technology to save gas/emissions, but also not being fiscally responsible.

[jetjam]

Maybe there is one installed at the donut shop. ;)

 

Good one!! 

[Dag]

Maybe there is one installed at the donut shop. ;)

It's a L1 charger too :)

 

They are there long enough to no justify the L2

[openair]

"The Department of Public Safety calculates the annual fuel savings at $70,000 for the 50 Fusion Energis."

assuming they got SE's and got some sort of package discount, and got the federal tax credit, getting the price down to $30k per car, thats a 21 year pay off, not counting the higher price for the car.

 

Not sure how I feel about it, yes using technology to save gas/emissions, but also not being fiscally responsible.

 

Sure, 21 years to pay off the full $30k per car.  But than you are comparing using Fusion Energi's as police cars to using a pair of shoes.

 

Compare them to something more reasonable, say a $20k car, and you're looking at more like 8 years...

[FusionEnergi]

 

Though I do question the author:

"Since then, he’s clocked 1,6000 miles, yet there’s still a quarter tank of gas left."

 

So is that 1,600 miles, or 16,000 miles?.

It also says last time he refuel was mid March(6 months after he began driving it in sept) and the post is 5 months old(June/July). That is filling up every 6 months or so.

Must be 1,600 miles not 16,000. It's only a quarter a mile to the donut shop.

Plus we all know how these type of government employees will sit in the car for much more time than the average person.

I can say this cause: Yes, been there, done that.

[HotLap]

After watching the video (thanks for the link by the way) the FFE wont be used for the actual pursuit vehicles, but for administration and detectives, i.e., those not likely to be involved in high speed driving. 

 

I like this smart usage of the FFE and there is a point that I think the article makes very well...but subtly.  When I show my FFE to my friends first thing they ask is what's the range?  When I tell them 22 miles they say oh sorry about that and that would never work for them.  I make the point not to think it as driving a straight 22 miles then having to run on fuel, but more like around town for errands, I rarely go 22 miles (in town at one time) so when I get back home and plug in the 220W charger, next time I'm ready to roll it's fully charged again!  So if you can manage your charging (first off you MUST get a 220W charger) and I'd imagine the Indy Police force is installing these in most of their administrative and police stations, you don't have to run out of battery.  As an example the gentleman in the video has gone 1600 miles and still has 1/4 tank left.

 

So (for me anyway) the worst fuel mileage situation usage (short trips around town) have been eliminated 95% of the time!    Yes on longer trips it does have to run on the ICE, but to date, I'm at 84.5mpg and I regularly have to drive trips of 200+ miles.  So, if you compare it to my previous vehicle which averaged between 12 - 14mpg - I'm way ahead of the curve!!