NYPD to trial all-electric scooters next month

New York's finest will also be some of New York's greenest next month, when the NYPD begins field testing four all-electric scooters from Rhode Island-based Vectrix USA. Although twice as expensive as the gas-powered Piaggio scooters that the department currently uses -- and with a fraction of their range -- the Vectrix offers police three attractive benefits: reduced fuel costs, lowered vehicle emissions, and, more practically, the element of surprise -- the scooters' nearly-silent engines should allow two-wheeled cops to approach suspects with more discretion. Sounds like a winner to us, as long as officers don't try pulling some eminent domain crap on our outlet at Starbucks when they need to juice up.

[Via Autoblog Green]

[eric f. @ Dec 25th 2007 9:46AM]

Add a little body armor and we almost have robocops. That would be awesome to see.

[Flashpoint @ Dec 25th 2007 10:29AM]

Im a NYorker. Recently we've had alot of cop killings. It would be safer and more economicaly viable for them to use bullet proofed Toyota Priuses.

[silverblackvoid @ Dec 25th 2007 11:22AM]

im so happy coz NY will be a little bit more greener. yay!!!

[Mike @ Dec 25th 2007 11:56AM]

Kudus to the NYPD for trying the Vectrix. While it's not for every situation, I believe it will contribute greatly to both the environment and crime prevention. I just took delivery of one. It’s very well-engineered and built, fun to ride, and has low operating costs.

[3rdsun @ Dec 25th 2007 12:16PM]

with the range a fraction of it's gas powered sibling you would definitely need that element surprise.

[OneLove @ Dec 25th 2007 5:45PM]

nice

[Zoinks @ Dec 25th 2007 6:41PM]

It's sure to be a hit in the next Bourne movie.

[mark lee @ Dec 25th 2007 7:34PM]

I guess now it's much easier to outrun the cops.

[dale_nx26 @ Dec 25th 2007 10:22PM]

Yes, the time it takes for them to finally catch the bad guys would result to in 3x the energy usage of regular cars.

[Wwhat @ Dec 26th 2007 8:37AM]

Doesn't have an ipod cradle but does come with a taser recharge cradle?

[skulldriveshaft @ Dec 26th 2007 3:38PM]

sssssssssssshhhhhhh

this is for those on pesky parking ticket duty

reduced range means less tickets issued, and some rotating gray areas created because of the range limitation :] you might not get a ticket today, but you might get one tomorrow :[

why do they have to make it into a scooter though?

it always looks like you're taking a crap :[

a motorcycle styled EV makes much more sense, the massive battery area should give you decent range.

[coolbreeze @ Dec 27th 2007 1:13PM]

well...now i know where my raise went. way to go bloomberg.

[hothotdisco @ Dec 28th 2007 3:37AM]

Stopping crime at 10mph!!