The New York City Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) announced Dec. 29 that it is placing an order for 184 all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E Sport crossover utility vehicles for law enforcement and emergency response use.
The electric crossovers, bought as part of the city’s largest electric vehicle (EV) purchase to date, are slated for use by the New York Police Department, the New York City Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Correction, the Department of Parks and Recreation, the Department of Environmental Protection, City Emergency Management, the DCAS Police, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The new EVs will replace gas-powered vehicles currently in the municipal fleet.
The EVs will be received by the city by June 30, according to a DCAS release to the media.
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“Smart investments in fleet electrification will help New York City break its dependence on fossil fuels,” said Dawn M. Pinnock, the acting commissioner of DCAS. “We are working successfully towards achieving the ambitious goal of an all-electric city vehicle fleet by 2035 by taking steps to fight the climate crisis every day. It’s gratifying that we are able to build an even greener city fleet while working towards a more equitable city.”
“Every single city vehicle we electrify is one step forward to advance clean air and a climate-friendly New York City,” said Ben Furnas, director of the Mayor Eric Adams’ Office of Climate and Sustainability. “With today’s announcement, we’re making sure that our law enforcement and patrol vehicles are moving away from the polluting fuels of the past and towards a greener future.”
NYPD alone operates more than 6,200 light-duty vehicles, the largest single group of vehicles in the city fleet of nearly 30,000.
“Law enforcement vehicles are the largest and most visible part of our city’s fleet,” said Keith Kerman, DCAS deputy commissioner and the city’s chief fleet officer. “This order of all-electric Mach-Es will enable our law enforcement agencies to put electric models to the full test and work out maintenance, lights and sirens, charging, and other operational issues. It is a critical step towards our goal of a fully electric fleet.”
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Mach-Es have a range of 270 miles on a full charge and nearly 27 cubic feet of cargo space, which enables the storage of emergency and law enforcement gear. DCAS has installed 29 fast chargers for NYPD and 103 others citywide. DCAS is slated to begin work this year to install 275 more charging units.
The city already operates the largest electric fleet and charging network in New York State, with more than 3,100 plug-in units and 1,070 chargers, including fast, solar, and mobile chargers. In 2019, DCAS launched an initiative to install 100 fast electric vehicle chargers across the five boroughs. This initiative was completed in November, on budget and as scheduled. To date, 11 of these chargers have also been made available for public access.
The Mach-E purchase is part of $420 million in investments that include:
- The purchase of more than 1,250 electric vehicles in 2022 and the installation of at least 1,776 fast chargers citywide by 2030. DCAS will make at least 100 of the 1,776 fast chargers available to the public.
- 180 solar carports and portable chargers, which can be moved from location to location, supporting flexible and emergency charging as New York transitions its entire fleet to electric vehicles. DCAS currently operates 89 solar carports and piloted its first mobile charger.
- In 2019, DCAS also piloted the use of 1 million gallons of renewable diesel. Renewable diesel is made from domestic waste products, achieves a 60% greenhouse gas reduction, and features lower tailpipe emissions than fossil fuel. It also is manufactured to the same specification as regular diesel, enabling seamless use by the city fleet and storage in the city’s fuel storage tanks. DCAS plans to introduce additional renewable diesel to the fleet starting this spring.
