Electric police cars are about to start hitting our roads. Road policing officers will trial five of them to see if they're up to the job.
It looks the same but under the flap, it's a plug-in.
"So as soon as I hit the accelerator, I have full power and torque available to me," Sergeant Ian Whitfield said.
"We're looking for different areas, different terrains, different temperatures to see how the vehicle performs in different environments," Sergeant Brian Yanko said.
The electric vehicle is a BMW, not a Skoda - though we're being told not to read too much into that
"It is not to trial a BMW, per se, it is to trial electric vehicles," Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said.
Police cars make up 20 percent of the government's light vehicle fleet and going electric would take a dent out of our carbon emissions. However there's a lot to consider first.
"We have about 120kg of gear in the vehicle and obviously there's the urgent journey driving component of it which does put a strain on the battery," Sgt Yanko said.
"Many of our vehicles run hot - in that they're used 24/7 - so we have to factor that into the thinking," Cmmr Coster said.
They'd save on petrol but they'd have to spend on chargers, and EV drivers watch out, your space at the local one might be taken up.
"It's highly likely you will see patrol vehicles using public infrastructure as well," Sgt Yanko said.
Road officers will test them first but weaning police off petrol completely will be a hard sell.
"We have to think about disaster situations, so how do we have a fleet that can keep operating in a disaster setting?" Cmmr Coster said.
For now, they're a novelty but don't let that fool you, a cop in an EV can still give you a ticket.
