The Traffic Police (TP) will soon be driving Electric Vehicles (EVs) whilst patrolling Singapore's roads from 2024.
According to The Straits Times (ST), they have picked a Swedish electric Polestar 2 saloon out of several bidders in a public tender that ran from Oct. 2022 to Jan. 31, 2023.
Under the tender, the TP were looking for a fleet of 19 EVs to replace aging highway patrol vehicles in their fleet, including their BMW, Subaru and Volvo models.
Besides Polestar, other bidders includes South Korea’s Hyundai Ioniq 5, China’s BYD Seal and Germany’s BMW i4 and iX1.
The winning bid was reportedly around S$3.8 million which includes a maintenance programme for the cars for over 10 years.
The cars do not require Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) and are tax-free.
New cars will be silent and exhaust-free
According to ST, the tender stated that the new cars should be able to accelerate from zero to 100kmh within eight seconds, while electric models should have at least 170kW and a battery size of at least 60kWh.
The Polestar 2, which is the dual-motor all-wheel drive variant, is capable of reaching 100kmh in 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 205kmh. It also has a 82kWh battery, exceeding the minimum requirement in the tender.
It will also be silent and exhaust-free.
Prior to their reported delivery in 2024, the cars selected will also be equipped with police equipment and paraphernalia.
Tender stated electric models will be evaluated first as part of push towards cleaner energy
ST reported that while the tender said internal combustion engine and hybrid models would also be eligible, electric models would be evaluated first as part of Singapore's initiative to move towards cleaner energy vehicles to reduce emissions.
The government aims to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles and have all vehicles run on cleaner energy by 2040.
Unnamed sources were also quoted as saying that other police departments are also shopping for EVs, including all-wheel-drive seven-seaters, which is considered rare among electric vehicles.
Top photo via Polestar and SPF