Gloucestershire Constabulary has taken delivery of 75 electric vehicles from Nissan, making 21% of its fleet zero-emissions.

The new vehicles include 66 Nissan LEAFs (www.nissan-global.com), of which 11 will be ‘marked’ vehicles, and nine e-NV200s.

The force has estimated that the saving in fuel and maintenance will equate to £136,000 a year.

Gloucestershire police already has experience with a smaller fleet of Nissan LEAFs, starting with the first generation in 2016 and the second in 2018.

Its use of the cars is part of a five-year plan by Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl to ensure that Gloucestershire Constabulary operates in a way that is ‘as responsible and sustainable as possible.’

Mr Surl added: “The purchase of these new vehicles is a huge step forward for the Constabulary to reduce its carbon and pollution.

“The new fleet will save a considerable amount of CO₂ and money, giving Gloucestershire a larger percentage of fully electric vehicles in its fleet than any other force.

“I hope the constabulary will be able to build on this and extend its electric fleet to 40% within the next four years.”

Gloucestershire Constabulary uses 7kW chargers at its ‘campus’ to charge the vehicles overnight. The Nissan LEAF e+ can travel up to 239 miles on one charge, while the e-NV200 is capable of up to 187 miles; as well as the money and emissions savings, the vehicles require less servicing than combustion-engined equivalents, so the force benefits from reduced off-the-road time.

Steve Imm, head of transport services for Gloucestershire Constabulary, said: “In our history of the Nissan LEAFs, we have only changed one set of brake pads on the 16-plate cars; because of the regenerative braking the brake pads and brake discs don’t get used as much.

“We are cutting down huge amounts of labour time and off-the-road time.”