Ford's New Hybrid Police Car A Mean, Green Pursuit Machine

DEARBORN, MI — Ford already dominates among automakers in supplying police vehicles, claiming 63 percent of the market. Most are Taurus Interceptor sedans and SUVs, which are designed for the rigors of tough police work. The rugged vehicles run fast, but they also guzzle a lot of gas. Enter Ford’s Fusion Responder Hybrid Sedan.

Though physically less imposing than the Interceptor, the smaller Responder will still get the job done, Ford says. The Responder is expected to be the first hybrid to get the all-important “pursuit-rated” in testing later this year by Michigan State Police and the Los Angeles Police Departments. That rating implies it is tough enough to handle police pursuits for long periods at different speeds, and over and through obstacles, such as curbs and flooded intersections, the Dearborn-based automaker said in a statement.

And the tougher version of Ford’s Fusion model, which has a 2-liter, four-cylinder engine and 1.4 kilowatt lithium ion battery, also is not as fuel hungry as the Interceptor. The automaker’s patented hybrid technology is expected to deliver 38 miles per gallon in combined city-highway driving, more than twice that of the Interceptor, Ford said.

Ford said that based on fuel prices of $2.50 per gallon, the Responder hybrid sedans could save $3,900 a year in fuel costs per vehicle. That’s because the gas engine shuts off when the vehicle is idling. On average, police vehicles are driven 20,000 miles per year and run two 8-hour shifts a day. About 4.9 hours of each shift is spent idling, Ford said.

Joe Henrichs, Ford’s president of the Americas, told the Detroit Free Press that representatives from the Michigan State Police and 24 other police agencies who sit on the automaker’s advisory board have “advocating for a pursuit-rated hybrid for some time.”

The Responder won’t be as fast as the Interceptors, specially designed vehicles from Ford’s Taurus line, the Associated Press reported. But they’re designed mainly for use in the city, where they will cut emissions in smog-filled cities like Los Angeles and New York, where they will debut.

“Patrol vehicles are a police officer’s office,” Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said in a statement. “We expect them to not only be economically and environmentally efficient but also an effective tool for fighting crime in major metropolitan areas.”

But are they large enough? Thomas Korabik, the chief of the North Muskegon, Michigan, Police Department is interested in cutting the $22,000 his 10-member department spends on fuel, but worries that they’re not big enough to carry computers, radios and other equipment police use in crime fighting — a big reason many police departments switched to SUVs.

“Anytime you can save money it is good,” he told the AP. “I’d want to see the car first and see how it will hold up.”

The car is expected to be available to cities nationwide by next summer. Ford has been partnering with cities on custom law enforcement vehicles since the days of the Model T.

Ford Motor Co., which sells more police cars in the U.S. than any other automaker, says it will offer a police pursuit version of the hybrid Fusion midsize sedan, in response to requests from cities nationwide. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)