Police begin trialling fully electric BMW i4
Police in Timaru will be testing out an all electric BMW i4 in their highway patrol fleet for the next five months.
The fleet of BMW i4s was announced by Police Commissioner Andrew Coster in June 2023 as part of a $1.7 million trial, with funding sourced as part of the State Sector Decarbonisation Fund, with collaboration with EECA.
Aoraki Highway Patrol team leader, Acting Sergeant Ben Grant, said the car arrived in the Aoraki (Mid and South Canterbury) region two weeks ago and had been in operation since.
There were two cars in Rangiora, three in Christchurch and one in Timaru, Grant said.
In Timaru, there were four trained drivers to test the car who were part of our highway patrol team, he said.
“It’s a really nice car and it’s a bit different to what we usually drive but it’s very powerful on the highway.
“It’s fit for purpose for our highway patrols. The only minor downside is that the space in the boot for our equipment is a bit smaller.”
The i4 fleet will initially be used in road policing applications, with testing to focus on how cars perform on different road conditions, in different temperatures, and whether they will be impacted by occupants lugging heavy police gear.
The cars are being trialled across New Zealand. The car in Timaru was previously trialled in the Waikato.
Grant said the car performed really well on the Aoraki region’s highways and the network of super chargers around the region made it easier to operate the car.
“We get 50% charge after charging it for 30 minutes but we can still receive emails and do some admin work when it’s charging.
“On a full charge we are getting about 400 kilometres of range and that includes some urgent responses to incidents.”
Grant said feedback from the public so far had been good and the car had drawn a lot of attention.
“People see the car and always want to have a chat about it.
“There’s a bit of stigma around EVs not being fit for purpose for police but BMW is the one company in the world that makes EVs specifically for emergency services.
“So far 90% of the feedback from officers driving the car has been positive.”