Ford was not the first brand to launch a hybrid car, but it was the first automaker to prepare a hybrid car for the police. It became a sedan Ford Police Responder Hybrid.
An attentive but impatient reader on this site will already begin to write a comment with the fact that Nissan Altima Hybrid and Ford Escape Hybrid drive in the US, in Australia and Dubai the cops are using the BMW i8, and in Germany the Volkswagen Passat GTE is in service with the police. Others will bring many more examples and all will be right - and commentators, and Ford.
Indeed, many states are increasingly transferring their special services to cars with hybrid engines, but basically the preparation of these machines for carrying out a difficult but important work boils down to one - applying special coloring, installing flashers and minimally necessary special equipment in the cabin. In Ford, they decided to adapt the technical part of their police car, so they can rightfully call the car the first full-fledged police hybrid in the world.
The base of the special car was a Ford Fusion sedan with a hybrid power unit. The "civil" version is equipped with a two-liter petrol turbo engine with a capacity of 143 hp. On the Atkinson cycle and an electric motor in combination with a lithium battery of 1.4 kW / h, which provide the total power of the power plant in 190 hp. At the same time, the American automaker chose not to advertise the characteristics of the Police Responder Hybrid. According to the journalists' insider data, in the acceleration from the place to 60 miles per hour (about 96.5 km / h) the new hybrid goes nostril to the nostril with the traditional Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor - this sedan with a 4.6-liter V8 with a capacity of 254 liters. from. Accelerates in 5.8 seconds.
Obviously, the novelty is weaker. But it is even easier than the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor. Ford does not hide the fact that the hybrid engine, firstly, was reconfigured for the police car, and secondly, made more reliable, as the operating conditions are implied to be the most severe. The emphasis is on the status of "pursuit-rated"!
This is the key feature of the new hybrid. At speeds up to 60 miles per hour, the Ford Police Responder Hybrid has to move completely on electric traction - in the patrolling mode, the sedan simultaneously saves fuel, and does not pollute the already deplorable atmosphere of megacities with unnecessary emissions. However, the policeman at any time may need to go to the challenge or rush into chasing the criminals. The manufacturer guarantees that the transition from the driving mode to the electric motor to the full output mode of Pursuit Mode will be instantaneous. Due to what is implemented - a secret.
But the automaker does not make any secret of the financial benefit for the police. Ford Police Responder Hybrid will cost more than the base gasoline Ford Police Responder, but it is twice more economical. The car with a petrol 3,7-liter V6 capacity of 309 hp (And there are still sedans with 3.5 EcoBoost at 370 hp) consumes more than 13 liters of gasoline per 100 km of mileage, while a hybrid - only 6.2 liters! According to estimates, based on an annual mileage of 20,000 miles and a gallon of gasoline $ 2.5, each hybrid sedan will save $ 3900 on fuel annually and pay off after the first year of operation!
Of course, the novelty has other differences. Outside - special paint, flashing beacons on the roof and in the front part of the body, the searchlight on the left front windshield pillar, the traditional power bumper ram. Strikingly unpainted stamped wheel disks, which are shod in special tires, and behind hide the strengthened brakes. Under the service in the police reinforced suspension and installed additional protection of the bottom.
I could not help but change the interior. On the dashboard appeared an indicator of activation of the Pursuit Mode, an electronic "handbrake" button and a round automatic gearbox selector, which is customary to see in Jaguar and Land Rover, but not in Ford, were at the bottom of the center console. On the tunnel between the front seats in the police sedan is placed special equipment - radio, lighting control and a place for a computer or a special terminal with access to the database. Also, taking into account the specificity of the police equipment, the seats were recast, in the backs of which, even in the basic equipment, a protection against the knife is installed. So the cops can comfortably be placed, without removing from the belt holster with a pistol and other outfits.
On the effectiveness of the hybrid on guard of order can be judged only next year, since the first new machines entered the police only this summer. But it seems that Ford is more than confident in its products. The police are promised another hybrid of factory special training!