carys98
Well-known member
- First Name
- Cary
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2022
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- 28
- Messages
- 759
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- 1,141
- Location
- Raleigh, NC
- Vehicles
- 2023 Lightning Lariat SR
- Occupation
- Retired EE
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- #1
I ran across the following post on Facebook from mayor David Mitchell of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. The town of Bridgewater has been using a Tesla for the last year and a Lightning for six months. It’s an extremely well written summary of their experience so far and it has been very positive. So far their savings have exceeded expectations and they haven’t had any problems with range or charging.
“As we start to approach the two-year mark from when we ordered our first Police EV and the six-month mark from when our second EV (Ford Lightning) went into service, I thought I would do another update for you.
Before you comment, as always, I ask that you please read the entire post. It seems for some reason the purchase of these EVs gets people more upset than any other issue facing Canada let alone our community. Also, if you read the post first then it avoids comments that have already been addressed in the actual post. Finally, I want to add these three things.
First, EVs are not perfect, and they are definitely not for everyone. This is a post specifically about the town’s police EVs so range, charging times and other issues or concerns that people have about owning an EV for personal use don’t really apply here in the same way they may apply to you. For our purposes they have been excellent but only you know if they would work for your needs.
I also continue to get comments with “waste of money” so again, if you read the post before commenting, you’ll see that in fact it’s the opposite and these are saving the taxpayer a significant amount of money. Please also remember when commenting that as a municipality, we don’t make federal policy.
Third, I also want to mention that there is a ton of misinformation about EVs out there and sorting through the fiction to get to the facts is difficult for sure. As someone who did a lot of research on this (and continues to), it takes a lot of time just to get to the facts and I would strongly recommend if you wanted to dive into this topic, you not only need to check the source, but maybe also speak to someone who owns an EV to get some real-life information as well. Again, I want to stress that EVs aren’t for everyone or every application.
So now that we’ve established that, this post should be seen as really good news.
In short, our EVs are behaving as expected and their savings are exceeding expectations. If that’s all you wanted to know then there you go. The town will in fact likely SAVE MORE than expected thus making these cheaper to own and operate than their gas counterparts by a larger margin. As you know, I try to ensure you have as much detail as possible, you may wish to continue reading.
Use: Both EVs are working flawlessly. Their operational uptime is the same or better than their gas equivalents. Charging is a non-issue as they are regularly topped up whenever they are at the station. This actually reduces officer downtime as they don’t need to stop to fill-up at the gas station, the vehicles simply charge as they are doing paperwork, processing an individual or during a shift change. Winter range has not been an issue as the town’s geography both in terms of size and the hills (where regenerative braking comes into play) means rarely do they dip below even a 50% charge at any time. Don’t forget, this post is about the town EVs, so road trips or long-haul drives are not something that they are used for. It’s worth reminding folks that the lifespan of the battery is not an issue for us in this case as these vehicles would cease police use long before the battery warranty expires.
Cost to operate: As you’ll likely recall, both the Tesla and the Lightning (at the time) cost more than their ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) equivalent. The expectation for the Tesla is that it would save approx. $5000 per year meaning that before the end of year three, taxpayers would see a net savings before the end of the vehicles useful life of around $15,000. For additional detail, it has cost only $625 in electricity to operate the Tesla from March 2023 to February 2024. To give you some perspective, this particular vehicle costs the same for three months of use (charging) as two shifts (24hrs) of the gas Durango’s.
Our Ford Lightning EV which is a full patrol use vehicle (vs the Tesla which is special use like for our school liaison officer and traffic enforcement) is also performing very well. It’s putting on a lot more mileage each day and has a larger battery (so charging costs are higher) but continues to save us money. For this vehicle, one month of use (charging) costs the same as two shifts (24hrs) of the gas Durango. In terms of dollars, we are looking at over $10,000 a year in savings for this vehicle which means it will net the taxpayer almost $30,000 in savings over its lifetime which is definitely not an insignificant amount. For the Lightning, it is costing on average $50 per week to charge and remember, this vehicle driven constantly.
Both these vehicles now cost less than they did just a couple of years ago and so the savings will be even greater going forward.
I’ll just add because I’ve been asked “why a pickup truck” a few times (which is a very valid question). This type of vehicle has actually been a perfect addition. First, it’s important to know that nobody makes a “police car” anymore. That means the options are large police spec. SUVs or pickups. The advantage to the pickup is that the inside is laid out well for daily patrol and transport if an arrest is made. It also carries a lot of items in the back as it is essentially a regular pickup truck. For example, it is not unusual for police to recover stolen items that are larger in size such as bicycles, ATVs or things of a similar size and weight. In police spec, the SUVs lose a lot of their rear cargo area, so the pickup is perfect and costs the same.
As the grid gets greener (Nova Scotia Power’s target is 80% renewables by 2030) it will mean these vehicles are cleaner and cleaner as they go. Just for clarity on some facts, the grid in Nova Scotia is currently 42% renewables, 32% coal with the remainder mostly natural gas. During peak events (think windy and/or very sunny days), that 42% of renewables jumps dramatically to well over 60%. Not perfect, but getting better.
I also want to add as some have asked about what happens to these vehicles at the end of their life with us. All police vehicles are stripped of all the police items on them so they will literally just look like a regular Model 3 or Ford Lightning (or Durango). If possible they are then used by a different town department for a few additional years. Otherwise they are sold but again, fully stripped down to their “regular” model appearance. When they are completely done, like any other vehicle they are recycled and for EVs, their batteries are almost 100% recyclable now. For some context, the only parts left that cannot be recycled total about the size of a football and again, this technology is getting better all the time. Because there are fewer moving parts, their expected life with our police service is two years longer than our gas patrol vehicles so the savings are greater still and the disposal at end of life is reduced.
EVs aren’t perfect and as I said, they aren’t for everyone. New technologies are evolving that we should be open to when that day comes. For some uses EVs can be incredible and very efficient and for others they aren’t yet practical enough. How they fit into your life is entirely up to you. For the Bridgewater Police Service, these have been a cost-saving addition which is good news for the people of Bridgewater.
I hope this post helps give you some clarity on how our EVs have fit into our police service extremely well and perhaps if you have been skeptical, given you some new information to help you understand that in this configuration and use, it makes a lot of sense.
Have a great day folks!”
“As we start to approach the two-year mark from when we ordered our first Police EV and the six-month mark from when our second EV (Ford Lightning) went into service, I thought I would do another update for you.
Before you comment, as always, I ask that you please read the entire post. It seems for some reason the purchase of these EVs gets people more upset than any other issue facing Canada let alone our community. Also, if you read the post first then it avoids comments that have already been addressed in the actual post. Finally, I want to add these three things.
First, EVs are not perfect, and they are definitely not for everyone. This is a post specifically about the town’s police EVs so range, charging times and other issues or concerns that people have about owning an EV for personal use don’t really apply here in the same way they may apply to you. For our purposes they have been excellent but only you know if they would work for your needs.
I also continue to get comments with “waste of money” so again, if you read the post before commenting, you’ll see that in fact it’s the opposite and these are saving the taxpayer a significant amount of money. Please also remember when commenting that as a municipality, we don’t make federal policy.
Third, I also want to mention that there is a ton of misinformation about EVs out there and sorting through the fiction to get to the facts is difficult for sure. As someone who did a lot of research on this (and continues to), it takes a lot of time just to get to the facts and I would strongly recommend if you wanted to dive into this topic, you not only need to check the source, but maybe also speak to someone who owns an EV to get some real-life information as well. Again, I want to stress that EVs aren’t for everyone or every application.
So now that we’ve established that, this post should be seen as really good news.
In short, our EVs are behaving as expected and their savings are exceeding expectations. If that’s all you wanted to know then there you go. The town will in fact likely SAVE MORE than expected thus making these cheaper to own and operate than their gas counterparts by a larger margin. As you know, I try to ensure you have as much detail as possible, you may wish to continue reading.
Use: Both EVs are working flawlessly. Their operational uptime is the same or better than their gas equivalents. Charging is a non-issue as they are regularly topped up whenever they are at the station. This actually reduces officer downtime as they don’t need to stop to fill-up at the gas station, the vehicles simply charge as they are doing paperwork, processing an individual or during a shift change. Winter range has not been an issue as the town’s geography both in terms of size and the hills (where regenerative braking comes into play) means rarely do they dip below even a 50% charge at any time. Don’t forget, this post is about the town EVs, so road trips or long-haul drives are not something that they are used for. It’s worth reminding folks that the lifespan of the battery is not an issue for us in this case as these vehicles would cease police use long before the battery warranty expires.
Cost to operate: As you’ll likely recall, both the Tesla and the Lightning (at the time) cost more than their ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) equivalent. The expectation for the Tesla is that it would save approx. $5000 per year meaning that before the end of year three, taxpayers would see a net savings before the end of the vehicles useful life of around $15,000. For additional detail, it has cost only $625 in electricity to operate the Tesla from March 2023 to February 2024. To give you some perspective, this particular vehicle costs the same for three months of use (charging) as two shifts (24hrs) of the gas Durango’s.
Our Ford Lightning EV which is a full patrol use vehicle (vs the Tesla which is special use like for our school liaison officer and traffic enforcement) is also performing very well. It’s putting on a lot more mileage each day and has a larger battery (so charging costs are higher) but continues to save us money. For this vehicle, one month of use (charging) costs the same as two shifts (24hrs) of the gas Durango. In terms of dollars, we are looking at over $10,000 a year in savings for this vehicle which means it will net the taxpayer almost $30,000 in savings over its lifetime which is definitely not an insignificant amount. For the Lightning, it is costing on average $50 per week to charge and remember, this vehicle driven constantly.
Both these vehicles now cost less than they did just a couple of years ago and so the savings will be even greater going forward.
I’ll just add because I’ve been asked “why a pickup truck” a few times (which is a very valid question). This type of vehicle has actually been a perfect addition. First, it’s important to know that nobody makes a “police car” anymore. That means the options are large police spec. SUVs or pickups. The advantage to the pickup is that the inside is laid out well for daily patrol and transport if an arrest is made. It also carries a lot of items in the back as it is essentially a regular pickup truck. For example, it is not unusual for police to recover stolen items that are larger in size such as bicycles, ATVs or things of a similar size and weight. In police spec, the SUVs lose a lot of their rear cargo area, so the pickup is perfect and costs the same.
As the grid gets greener (Nova Scotia Power’s target is 80% renewables by 2030) it will mean these vehicles are cleaner and cleaner as they go. Just for clarity on some facts, the grid in Nova Scotia is currently 42% renewables, 32% coal with the remainder mostly natural gas. During peak events (think windy and/or very sunny days), that 42% of renewables jumps dramatically to well over 60%. Not perfect, but getting better.
I also want to add as some have asked about what happens to these vehicles at the end of their life with us. All police vehicles are stripped of all the police items on them so they will literally just look like a regular Model 3 or Ford Lightning (or Durango). If possible they are then used by a different town department for a few additional years. Otherwise they are sold but again, fully stripped down to their “regular” model appearance. When they are completely done, like any other vehicle they are recycled and for EVs, their batteries are almost 100% recyclable now. For some context, the only parts left that cannot be recycled total about the size of a football and again, this technology is getting better all the time. Because there are fewer moving parts, their expected life with our police service is two years longer than our gas patrol vehicles so the savings are greater still and the disposal at end of life is reduced.
EVs aren’t perfect and as I said, they aren’t for everyone. New technologies are evolving that we should be open to when that day comes. For some uses EVs can be incredible and very efficient and for others they aren’t yet practical enough. How they fit into your life is entirely up to you. For the Bridgewater Police Service, these have been a cost-saving addition which is good news for the people of Bridgewater.
I hope this post helps give you some clarity on how our EVs have fit into our police service extremely well and perhaps if you have been skeptical, given you some new information to help you understand that in this configuration and use, it makes a lot of sense.
Have a great day folks!”
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