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Guilford Looks to Start Replacing Older Town and Police Vehicles with Greener Models

Guilford is taking a small step toward reducing its tailpipe emissions—and its gasoline bill—as it considers replacing a handful of its aging town vehicles with cleaner, more efficient hybrid or electric ones. At the same time, the Guilford Police Department is budgeting for the possibility of adding two hybrid vehicles to its own fleet, contingent on how well these relatively new designs can meet the needs of the department.

Town officials said that trying to incorporate hybrid and electric is part of Guilford’s commitment to sustainability and environmentally conscious practices.

The town currently owns one hybrid vehicle—a Toyota Prius—that First Selectman Matt Hoey said is a “shared resource” at Town Hall.

At least four town vehicles are likely to be replaced soon, according to Guilford Public Works Shop Foreman Ralph Casey.

One of those is actually Hoey’s—the vehicle he uses for official town functions—which he said is nearing the end of its usable life, though if it is replaced, it will likely still be used by some town employees as long as it’s still safe, Hoey said.

“As part of our overall sustainability initiative…[w]herever possible, we are going to look to procure hybrid or electric vehicles,” Hoey told The Guilford Courier.

No final decisions have been made to purchase any of these hybrid or electric cars, Hoey said, which are for the most part, slightly more expensive than traditional gas-powered units.

Any new vehicle purchases will be added to the town’s capital budget, he said, which eventually need to be approved by voters. Hoey said the town often purchases vehicles off of state contract bids, which can help reduce the up-front cost of a purchase like that.

Casey told the Courier that there are actually a good number of hybrid vehicles that can serve the town’s purpose, though for full electric, options are much more limited.

“You’ve got to kind of look at it from the standpoint of not only moving into hybrids or plug-in electric, but the initial cost of the vehicle,” he said.

For full electric, Casey said the town might look at a cost of about $70,000 per vehicle. Plug-in hybrids—vehicles that use both gas and electric, but often can operate at certain speeds or distances purely on electricity—likely cost between $35,000 to 80,000 per vehicle.

Another consideration is four-wheel drive, and the ability to operate in bad weather and other tricky conditions, both on and off of paved roads, Casey said, which further limits the town’s options for certain town employees, who must be able to drive in snowstorms or even off-road regularly.

An advantage to these vehicles is, of course, fuel economy, which could save money in the long run. Some of the hybrid vehicles get around 50 miles to the gallon, Casey said.

Police vehicles are another area of opportunity for more fuel-efficient, environmentally conscious infrastructure. Guilford Police Chief Jeff Hutchinson said that while his department also hasn’t made any final decisions, they are continuing to research adding hybrids to their fleet when some of the current vehicles age out.

The Ford Explorer Interceptor is the model that the department is currently looking at for use as a patrol car. Many more urban police agencies have used electric or hybrid vehicles of various kinds of traffic or parking enforcement, Hutchinson said, though Guilford would be unlikely to use those due to its size and needs.

The Interceptor, though, could both potentially save the department money in the long run due to the fuel efficiency, Hutchinson said, and is also fully able to operate in all the ways and in all the conditions a police patrol vehicle needs to operate.

Hutchinson said he did not yet have the numbers to estimate exactly how much money the vehicles could save the town due to fuel savings. The up-front cost is a little over $3,000 more per vehicle for the hybrid interceptors, according to Hutchinson. He also said that the town will not be purchasing the 2020 model, which is the first iteration of the hybrid Explorer that Ford has produced, instead waiting for the 2021 model.

“You never buy the first one,” said Hutchinson. “Wait to see what all the kinks are.”

Hutchinson emphasized, though, that apart from potential financial considerations, Guilford Police De[artment was also entirely onboard the commitment to greener operations in its daily work.

“It’s important for us to understand the nature of where we’re going as a society here, and trying to go as green as possible,” he said.