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UK Police Force Adds Vectrix Electric Scooter
18 February 2008
The Strathclyde (UK) Police are putting a Vectrix electric Maxi-Scooter into active duty—the first electric scooter ever to be so used by a Police Force within the United Kingdom. The maxi-scooter will be used mainly for patrol and parking duties at the airport.
Following a two week trial to test for performance and usability, we quickly established that the Vectrix was capable of meeting our requirements and we have since gone ahead with the purchase of the bike. The bike will enhance our ability to enforce parking legislation and also to assist the regulation of traffic within the busy airport road system.
—Inspector Colin Pearson, Glasgow Airport Road Policing
The Maxi-Scooter combines a 3.7 kWh Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) battery pack and a 20 kW electric motor that delivers 65 Nm (48 lb-ft) torque. The battery pack is designed for up to 1,700 full charging cycles. Recharge time is about two hours. The scooter offers a top speed of 62 mph and a range of about 68 miles (110 km) at 25 mph (40 kph). Acceleration from 0-60 mph takes 5.8 seconds.
Address : (Earlier post.)
Formed in 1975, Stathclyde is Scotland’s largest police force and one of the biggest in the UK. With approximately 7,500 police officers and 3,000 support staff working around the clock the force provides a vast range of policing services on behalf of 12 local authorities.
February 18, 2008 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Posted by: Bill G. | February 19, 2008 at 08:42 AM
It's already being used by the NYPD.
http://www.vectrix.com/Portal/1/Language/47/Page/55/Vectrix_News.aspx
Posted by: gary | February 19, 2008 at 08:47 AM
20 kW!?! That sounds like a very powerful scooter! How heavy is it?
0-60 in 5.8 seconds... calculating from 0.5*m*V*V -> mass is approx 2*5.8*20,000/(26.7 m/s)^2 = 326 kg so the bike probably weighs around 250kg.
Actually - the data sheet at http://www.vectrix.com/US/index.html says 200 kg. And it also says 0-*50* mph in *6.8 seconds*, not 0-60 in 5.8.
Assuming its regeneration is useful and efficient, and it's an accesible vehicle for people, this must be a good thing for emissions in inner city, and perhaps also it strikes a gdifferent balance between safety and energy efficiency for people to chose.
Those two qualities are at odds with each other - the trend towards cheaper, more crash resilient vehicles has led to the use of heavy steel body work - multiplying up the energy wasted through any drive inefficiency.
I live in London - seeing all the slow moving traffic in the morning, it's obvious that for those vehicles that need to be on the road - busses, taxis, delivery vehicles for example - if they were limited to 30 or 40mph and had a different class of crash resisilence standard applied, then a much more sensible balance of EV requirements is created. These vehicles rarely need to leave the crowded and speed restricted city streets.
Some delivery chains are following this trend - such as coca cola, and DHL in some cities.
Posted by: Tim | February 20, 2008 at 05:19 AM
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This vehicle would be useful in many large American cities like 'New York City'.