South Pasadena Police Department EV (Photo – City of South Pasadena)
On Monday, July 27, 2024, the South Pasadena Police Department became the nation’s first law enforcement agency to completely replace its gasoline-powered vehicles with nonpolluting electric vehicles.
By News Desk
The city’s zero-emission police fleet of 20 new Teslas will rely on a bank of new electric vehicle chargers installed at South Pasadena City Hall. Additionally, upon completion of the final electrification project component, City Hall, the Police Station and the Fire Station buildings will be backed up by a solar powered system with battery storage adding critical power resilience in the event of an outage.
Safe, Clean, and Saves Taxpayer Dollars
“This transition reflects the city’s vision of a sustainable future based on both sound fiscal management and environmental stewardship,” said South Pasadena Mayor Evelyn Zneimer. “The City Council is fully behind this transition. We will have a 21st Century police force that is safe, clean and saves taxpayer dollars. We’re very excited to be working with our regional and corporate partners to make this happen.”
“Finishing the job of cleaning up the region’s unhealthy smog and protecting our atmosphere will require wholesale adoption of vehicles that produce no emissions while driving,” said South Pasadena Councilmember and South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) Vice Chair Michael Cacciotti. Cacciotti has been the key champion of the effort.
“Switching to these vehicles offers the Police Department the opportunity to acquire a cutting-edge vehicle fleet,” said South Pasadena Police Chief Brian Solinsky. “This initiative not only ensures the safest vehicles for officers and staff but also leads to substantial reductions in both fuel and maintenance costs.”
The transition is expected to save about $4,000 a year per vehicle on energy costs, plus provide additional savings on maintenance, such as brakes, oil changes, air filters, and more. Overall, according to Solinsky, the operational cost of electric vehicles will be at least half the per-mile cost of gasoline- powered vehicles.
A key component of the project was the construction of 34 chargers at South Pasadena City Hall. Under its Charge Ready program, Southern California Edison upgraded its local distribution system to supply the higher level of power needed to energize the vehicles and installed the underground wiring needed to install the chargers.
Resilient Public Safety
Clean Power Alliance’s Power Ready Program provides another important electrification component to South Pasadena’s City Hall project through the installation of a renewable solar and battery energy storage system. Stored energy will provide for the continuity of operations for essential services during power outages. In addition to installing a solar system canopy over the adjacent parking lot, CPA will reserve a portion of battery capacity in case of an outage and the batteries will be used daily for grid and energy optimization – participating in demand response events and increasing overall system reliability.
South Pasadena Police Department electric vehicles (Photos – City of South Pasadena)
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