The city of Waco is set to buy 34 hybrid police vehicles, holding off on full-electric options until they can be proven to support police equipment and needs, Waco City Manager Bradley Ford said.
Officials postponed consideration of the purchase during a city council meeting last week because Caldwell Country Ford, one of three potential dealers, informed the city the $2 million it initially quoted for the order is no longer valid. The cars, all hybrid Ford Interceptors, will be back on the council agenda July 19 or Aug. 2.
Ford said the police department purchased a single Ford Mustang Mach-E electric SUV in April, but it was not able to power the lights, computer and other equipment installed on a police car.
“It was very nice, but when we went to outfit it with equipment and lighting, we weren’t able to … ensure functionality,” Ford said.
He said the dealer told him a more expensive upgraded version, a Mustang Mach-E GT, would have been the right choice.
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The car became a developmental services vehicle, and the city went back to trying to find a candidate for an electric police vehicle.
The police department started putting hybrid Interceptors into service about two years ago, and officials reported an improvement in fuel consumption. Ford’s website now lists a hybrid powertrain as standard on its Interceptors, which are based on Explorers.
The council’s consideration of a new batch of 34 police vehicles comes a few weeks after it reviewed a study on fleet vehicle replacement that summarizes a plan to replace city vehicles as they age, with an eye toward electric and hybrid cars.
CST Fleet Services and Ecopreserve, the two consulting firms that worked on the study, found that 16% of the city’s roughly 1,000 vehicles are 20 years old or older, while most are between eight and 10 years old.
CTS consultant Randy Owen said he was a fleet engineer in the trucking industry before becoming a consultant.
“An earlier speaker was right on when he said that electric vehicles are clearly the future of the fleet industry, the future of all vehicles we’ll be buying in the future,” Owen said, referring to comments from climate change activist Alan Northcutt. “There’s no question about that. I think an important thing to consider is our approach, a measured approach.”
Owen said the plan recommends weighing whether to replace every aging fuel vehicle with an electric one over time.
“Our mission was not to advise you on how to electrify your fleet tomorrow, so just keep that in mind as we go through our recommendations on our case study,” he said.
In addition to its 1,000 vehicles, the city has about 800 pieces of equipment that are not “rideable,” and Owen said the city should be replacing about 180 of its 1,800 vehicles and other pieces of equipment each year, at an annual cost of about $9 million to $10 million.
Rebecca Coalson, a renewable energy consultant with Ecopreserve, said the city owns 44 hybrid vehicles and 4 electric vehicles, all purchased since 2019. The city has identified 58 current city vehicles as candidates for replacement with electric vehicles in the future.
Coalson said the city owns seven charging stations, and there are another 10 level-two and 28 level-three charging stations publicly available in Waco, though some are limited to Tesla brand cars. Level-two chargers use 240 volts and can typically charge a car in a few hours. Level-three chargers use direct current and can typically charge a car in less than an hour.
Coalson recommended adding another 44 level-two chargers to the city in the future.
“We shouldn’t rely on (public chargers) fully in order to move over to an electric fleet,” Coalson said.
The study notes that fleet vehicles that can be left to charge overnight are especially good candidates for replacements. That leaves out many police vehicles, which see heavy use during multiple shifts a day.
