Police force hails largest EV fleet in the UK

Gloucestershire Constabulary will begin using 75 new electric vehicles (EVs) over the next few weeks.

The new cars and vans will make up 21% of Gloucestershire’s entire fleet, giving the force the largest percentage of fully-electric EVs per fleet in the UK.

While none of the Nissan vehicles will be used as response vehicles, the majority will be used by local investigation teams. 11 will be fully marked up as traditional police cars with ‘zero-emission’ labelling and will help to save money for the force, with estimated savings of over £138,000 per year as a result of decreased fuel costs and savings to servicing, in comparison to diesel vehicles.

Gloucestershire’s fleet is outnumbered only by the Metropolitan Police, which has 546 eco-vehicles in its fleet, and includes a  combination of hybrid, hydrogen fuel cell and fully-electric vehicles. 

Gloucestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Martin Surl said: ‘The purchase of these new vehicles is a huge step forward for the Constabulary to reduce its carbon and pollution, and meets part of my commitment to “A Green and Pleasant County” that was outlined in my Police and Crime Plan. It’s a journey we’ve been on for five years and is part of a long-term commitment by my office to ensure our environment is considered at every opportunity.

‘The new fleet will save a considerable amount of Co2 and money, giving Gloucestershire a larger percentage of fully-electric vehicles in its fleet than any other force. I hope the constabulary will be able to build on this great work, and extend its electric fleet to 40 per cent within the next four years.

Gloucestershire Constabulary is the only force in the country to hold the environmental certification ISO 14001 — the international standard for environment management systems, which was awarded to the force in 2007, and has been recertified four times, with the most recent in February 2019.