WA Police begin second stage of electric vehicle trial with Kia EV6 to be tested by South West officers

WA Police have launched the second stage of its electric vehicle trial, with a new highway patrol car hitting the roads of the South West.

A dual motor Kia EV6 came into service in Bunbury on Friday, which will see South West traffic officers put the SUV through its paces across the policing district.

South West Superintendent Geoff Stewart said he was pleased the region had been chosen for the trial.

“I think we’ve been selected based on a lot of traffic volumes and the like down here,” he said.

Officers from Bunbury Police Station along with those in Fremantle, Midland, Rockingham, Geraldton and at Road Policing Command were part of the original 2022 trial which first saw electric vehicles used by the police force.

Power consumption with emergency driving conditions and equipment used saw the vehicle’s range reduced by up to 30 per cent.

Superintendent Stewart said a number of changes had been made to the EV6 as part of the second trial.

“The special equipment on there, and there are number plate recognition cameras on there, there’s rear-facing message boards and the like that are now connected to another source of power in there — not just the main lithium battery — and that’s another part of the trial as well,” he said.

Regional Development Minister Don Punch said the trial was a great opportunity to see how electric vehicles performed for policing in regional WA.

“We have highways, we have country roads, we have remote areas in the South West,” he said.

“We also have a high volume of traffic on our roads within the region, so this is a great opportunity to really test the capabilities of an electric vehicle and how it can match up to the policing task on our roads.”

The second trial will see electric vehicles put under different conditions than the original trial, including the requirement to last longer periods of time away from the station.

While not being able to give a figure for the vehicle’s range, Superintendent Stewart said the SUV was unlikely to have issues with charging and distance.

“These bad boys have the juice to catch the bad guys if we need to,” he said.

The trial is expected to be ongoing.