By Nicholas Gilmore
The Santa Fe New Mexican
SANTA FE, N.M. — An initiative to get Santa Fe police officers into hybrid vehicles is on hold this year due to supply chain issues that have created delays and price hikes, city officials said.
Instead, the agency is ordering vehicles with EcoBoost gasoline engines for this year’s fleet replacement purchase. Deputy Chief Ben Valdez called it “the next-best option” which will still provide savings due to fuel efficiency.
The City Council on Wednesday approved the $1.7 million request to buy 26 new police vehicles from Chalmers Ford of Rio Rancho — along with gear and equipment.
The Police Department will resume the transition to hybrid vehicles once the manufacturers can build and deliver them in a timely manner and without unexpected price increases, Valdez told city councilors in a recent memorandum submitted with the budget request.
The purchase consists of eight Ford Interceptors for patrol officers and 18 Ford trucks for public safety aides and animal services. The price of the vehicles totals about $1 million, while lighting, equipment, radios and other add-ons total a little more than $700,000.
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The police department has been working to replace its fleet with hybrid vehicles — which use a combination of an electric battery and a combustion engine — since about 2016, Valdez said.
The department was approved to purchase 42 hybrid-engine Interceptors in 2022, but Valdez said the majority of those had to be switched to the EcoBoost engine and many ended up being 2023 model year because of delays in the order.
The agency is still working to catch up on vehicle replacements that fell behind due to budgetary constraints and supply chain issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. And now, with inflation in recent years, the cost of vehicles and equipment has risen.
The department plans to introduce Ford Maverick pickups to its fleet as part of this year’s replacement. The order includes the purchase of 16 of the trucks, 12 of which will go to the agency’s public safety aides and four for crime scene units.
The other two trucks are Ford F-150s, which will go to the Animal Services Division .
The city’s public safety aides drive Ford F-150 trucks, but, Valdez said, the price of that model has nearly doubled since those trucks were purchased in 2020. The F-150 costs about $44,000 per vehicle, while the Maverick costs about $32,000, according to his memo.
The police department has 294 vehicles in its fleet, including patrol units, police motorcycles and specialty vehicles like evidence vans and armored vehicles.
In August, the council voted to approve the Police Department purchase of two new armored vehicles and an armored explosive ordnance disposal vehicle at a cost of about $1.1 million.
Valdez said the department would continue to weigh its options while working to catch up on replacing its fleet.
In past years, he said, the Ford Crown Victoria was the “gold standard” for police cruisers and that, “surprisingly,” most of the vehicles now used by police that are “pursuit-rated” contain V6 as opposed to V8 engines.
The agency’s fleet also includes one electric Chevrolet Bolt as a “support vehicle,” Valdez said.
“There are going to be advancements,” Valdez said. “I think at some point, we will probably get there with plug-in electrics, and that’d be cool to see.”
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