LOS ANGELES—“Today the LAPD added 100 electric cars to its fleet, making L.A. a national leader in the move to cleaner and quieter vehicles and proving that Black-and-whites can also be green,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday, June 8.

The Los Angeles Police Department was delivered 100 electric vehicles that more than doubled Los Angeles’s EV fleet, according to the LAPD blog. There are now 168 EVs as part of the city of Los Angeles making it the largest battery-powered municipal fleet in the US. This comes as part of Garcetti’s Sustainable City Plan that requires at least half of new city cars to be electric.

“Every sector should be migrating to green technology — and these new EVs show how local government can lead. Our sustainability plan pushes L.A. to speed adoption of greener practices and technologies, which also save money and resources. If LAPD can do it, so can everyone else,” said Garcetti.

The car that was chosen after a competitive bid with a field trial is the BMW i3, according to the BMW Car Club of America. The BMW i2 was chosen for its EPA rated best-in-class efficiency, reliability and stat-of-the-art ConnectedDrive services that can be used to support fleet management applications.

“The attributes of the BMW i3 position it to excel as the ideal vehicle for municipal organizations. The performance and technical capabilities, such as the BMW i3 ‘s acceleration, and its ConnectedDrive integration, are perfectly suited to transform the future mobility of the Los Angeles Police Department while also reducing their carbon footprint,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO of BMW of North America.

The LAPD blog noted the EVs cost less to maintain and fuel and the deal to obtain the 100 EVs includes maintenance and training and certification of LAPD mechanics on EVS. By opting to do a 3-year lease on the vehicles instead of purchasing, the city is able to retain the flexibility of changing the fleet as EV technology evolves.

With the leasing of the new vehicles the LAPD was able to replace 100 aging vehicles instead of the original 36. The LAPD also received permission from the City Council to redirect $1.5 million that was earmarked for the EVS to purchase and install 104 charging stations.

The new EVs will become part of the LAPD’s motor pool and will be used by the civilian work force for meetings or site visits, and by sworn officers on routine assignments. The vehicles will be seen on the streets this spring badge with a LAPD insignia, said the BMW Car Club of America website.

The goal of leasing the new EVS is to move the EV market to lower costs and greater investment into viable medium and heavy duty EVS, used by many of the city’s departments. The lease also reduces the city’s dependency on gasoline, a highly volatile commodity. The city of Los Angeles also passed its 2017 goal of 1000 publicly available EV charging stations.

“Electric vehicle procurement made sense for taxpayers and for the environment. The charging stations we bought will power many more electric vehicles in the future, for much less than the price of gas. Every dollar we save from lower maintenance will go back into law enforcement to keep our city safe. And while our new electric cars will be used only for non-emergency purposes, we will continue to monitor and test new generations of vehicles for their potential to serve as patrol cars,” said LAPD Chief Charlie Beck.