Windsor police goal to use electric vehicles starts with charging stations in 2023

File photo of a Windsor police cruiser taken in Windsor, Ont. (Melanie Borrelli / CTV News)

Plans are in motion to integrate electric vehicles into the Windsor Police Service.

Director of planning and physical resources Barry Horrobin says the first step is to install electric charging stations.

“By starting with electric charging stations, get those in first at the various facilities, then that opens the door to start considering gradually integrating electric vehicles into our fleet as older vehicles transition out,” says Horrobin.Windsor police director of planning and physical resources Barry Horrobin. (Melanie Borrelli / CTV Windsor)

He says plans are in the works to apply for grants to help subsidize the costs of EV charging station installations, with a goal of having them installed by the spring of 2023.

They will also be putting in publically assessable charging stations at the same locations – police headquarters on Goyeau Street, training facility on Sandwich Street and collision centre on Jefferson.

There is no exact date for when the new electric vehicles will hit the road, but it won’t be front-line cruisers to start.

“We would be starting with unmarked vehicles first, that’s just a logical, an easier transition to start with,” he says.

He adds they will keep an eye on other police services using them on the frontlines, but expects it to be a while down the road locally.

The fleet currently has about 180 vehicles, including 12 hybrid vehicles. There are 80 marked vehicles, so about five per cent of the marked vehicles are hybrid.

Horrobin says adding electric vehicles will help reduce costs and are environmentally friendly.

“We do go through a lot of fuel on a monthly basis and when you have increases in fuel prices it causes that fluctuation and you have to adjust,” he says.

He says the more vehicles they can add to the fleet, the higher degree the cost savings will be.