Green Bay police introduced two of its new electric squad vehicles, July 30, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The Green Bay Police Department is showing off its new cruisers as part of the city’s clean energy investments.
The police department recently acquired two new all-electric police cruisers and hybrid vehicles.
It’s part of the city’s goal to have 100% clean energy and be carbon neutral by 2050.
The money used to purchase the new squad cars came from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
On Tuesday, the Climate Action Campaign’s Clean Energy REVolution Tour made a stop in Green Bay. The tour highlights investments made by the IRA and BIL.
Police chief, Chris Davis, says after transforming them into patrol cars, the new vehicles cost about the same as gas vehicles.
Since they were incorporated into the traffic division department about a month ago, Davis says he’s already seeing some benefits.
“Some of the early benefits that we’re seeing, one in particular, is a significant reduction in tailpipe emissions. Obviously over the course of a shift because we have to leave our patrol vehicles running pretty much an entire shift when an officer is using one because of all the electronics that have to stay fully powered and that requires us to leave the engine on and there’s no emissions from these vehicles. It’s also a lot easier to power electronics because they’re electric cars, it’s a giant battery that powers all that stuff,” Davis said.
The funding through the IRA is slated to extend to the year 2030. The city says it will apply for federal grants through this program annually to help fund future clean energy projects.
The city recently received more than $3 million from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) that will go toward purchasing low to no emission city buses.
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