Fifty Chevrolet Volts to be added to NYPD fleet

Fifty Chevrolet Volts are being added to the New York Police Department's vehicle fleet. The Volts will join twenty other electric cars to bring the entire NYPD's EV fleet up to 430, including electric scooters and golf carts. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg announced in Queens yesterday that it was adding the EV cars to its fleet to reduce air pollution and fuel consumption.

The 50 Chevrolet Volts are "the latest and largest-ever addition of electric vehicles to the City's fleet, which is already the largest municipal clean-air fleet in the nation," said Bloomberg. Use of the electric vehicles is also an effort to encourage development of the vehicle-charging infrastructure for consumers interested in purchasing them.

"We will continue to lead by example, but we also must provide New Yorkers with tools to make environmentally friendly choices in their own lives," Bloomberg said. "It's all part of our [agenda] to create a greener, greater New York City."

The Chevrolet Volts will be used primarily for traffic control and park and recreational maintenance, while the gasoline-engine NYPD cars will continue to be used for things like criminal pursuit.