Honda (UK) has secured Britain’s biggest ever fleet deal for hybrid cars from London’s Metropolitan Police which has ordered 117 Civic Hybrids for its community support officers to use as part of a safer neighbourhoods scheme – an initiative to increase police presence on the streets.
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Officers will use the cars to travel from their operational bases to the start of their foot patrols. The cars are not patrol cars – those, which make up around 60% of the fleet, are mainly high performance diesel-fuelled models.
The deal underlines the public sector’s growing interest in ‘greener’ vehicles, Honda claimed. Over the past year, the UK importer’s corporate sales department has seen a sharp increase in the number of quotations requested by agencies and organisations in the public sector.
The Civic Hybrid was selected by the ‘Met’ for its ease of use and strong environmental credentials.
Speaking at the national association of police fleet managers conference, Stuart Middleton, the Met’s director of transport services, said the hybrids would help “meet police requirements and at the same time fulfil social responsibility to try and make our fleet of vehicles as green as possible. The police, like many other like-minded people, want to do their bit.”
The fact that hybrid cars are becoming more financially viable was also a key influencer. Middleton said: “We need to balance the desire to produce a vehicle with the lowest environmental impact with the cost to the tax payer that funds the vehicles.”
He continued: “It’s now widely acknowledged that hybrids provide the middle stepping stone to hydrogen fuel cell cars – our long term goal. Hybrid technology utilises a vehicle that performs in the same way as a conventional car but has the advantage of a reduced emissions footprint.”
Leased through the Lex ‘emergency services VT fleet’, the cars are contracted for a two year, 24,000-mile period.
Honda said the Met had previously tried other alternative fuels such as electricity and LPG but these initiatives halted due to a combination of impracticality, reduction in funding and car makers stopping factory production.
The Greater London Authority is planning to introduce 70 hydrogen powered vehicles in London by 2010. The Met plans to run four of those.
