Electric police cars in the UK: exclusive survey plots forces’ EV uptake

Some constabularies have embraced electric vehicles, while other haven’t any on their fleets

Nissan EV police vehicles

Police forces in the UK have more than 430 electric vehicles on their fleets and in excess of 808 chargers. These numbers are not evenly spread among forces, however, with some constabularies having adopted large numbers of EVs and others none at all.

Auto Express sent freedom of information requests to the UK’s 45 police forces and received 34 responses, revealing how EV-friendly the majority of constabularies are. Some forces refused to provide the information we asked for, while others had not responded by the time we went to print.

Unsurprisingly, the Metropolitan Police Service – which is the UK’s largest police force – had the greatest number of EVs. The Met told us it runs 99 fully electric vehicles, including 50 Nissan e-NV200 electric vans, 41 Nissan Leaf hatchbacks and eight BMW K17 C Evolution motorcycles. The force also operates a number of BMW i3 patrol cars, but these were not included in the Met’s response because they are range-extender models that have petrol engines fitted.

The Met also has the highest number of chargers, 264 of them spread across 33 police stations. The force told us it mainly tops up its EV fleet at its own chargers, but occasionally uses public chargers, too.

Another force with a large number of electric vehicles is Gloucestershire Constabulary, which has 83, including 72 Nissan Leafs, nine Nissan e-NV200s and two Tesla Model 3s. It has 59 chargers across 17 locations and its policy is to only use these and never public chargers.

Of the 33 forces who answered our request, seven told us they have no EVs whatsoever: Cambridgeshire, City of London, Durham, Lancashire, Northern Ireland, Staffordshire and Warwickshire.

Among the 26 forces that do run EVs, the Nissan Leaf proves to be the most popular, with 117 of these in operation. The BMW i3, Nissan e-NV200 and Vauxhall Corsa-e are also highly popular choices, with 87, 71 and 60 of these vehicles featuring in police fleets respectively.

Most of the EVs used by police forces are cars, but we were told about a number of vans and motorcycles as well.

One constabulary that refused to respond to our request was Police Scotland, which claimed it would be against the public interest to tell us how many EVs the force operated, and claimed not to hold the other information we asked for.

It did, however, answer a similar request from the Scottish Liberal Democrats back in August, from which it emerged that Police Scotland had spent around £20million on buying a fleet of electric cars, but had failed to install the necessary infrastructure to charge them. This led to the cars being left to charge overnight in public car parks.

Most popular police EVs

1. Nissan Leaf
2. BMW i3
3. Nissan e-NV200
4. Vauxhall Corsa-e
5. Renault Zoe
6. Peugeot e-208
7. BMW K17 C Evolution
8. Peugeot e-Expert
=9. Hyundai Kona Electric
=9. SEAT Mii
=9. Vauxhall Vivaro-e

How many EVs and chargepoints does your force have?

Police force Number of Evs Number of chargepoints
Avon and Somerset Constabulary 21 10
Bedfordshire Police 1 0
Cambridgeshire Constabulary 0 0
Cheshire Constabulary 5 12
City of London Police 0 0
Cleveland Police 1 4
Cumbria Constabulary * *
Derbyshire Constabulary 2 1
Devon and Cornwall Constabulary 4 6
Dorset Police * *
Durham Constabulary 0 0
Dyfed-Powys Police 11 12
Essex Police 8 8
Gloucestershire Constabulary 83 59
Greater Manchester Police * *
Gwent Police 6 25
Hampshire Constabulary 15 62
Hertfordshire Constabulary 3 10
Humberside Police * *
Kent Police 2 19
Lancashire Constabulary 0 0
Leicestershire Constabulary * *
Lincolnshire Police 21 29
Merseyside Police 8 64
Metropolitan Police Service 99 264
Norfolk and Suffolk 12 20
North Wales Police 12 19
North Yorkshire Police 1 6
Northamptonshire Police * *
Northumbria Police * *
Nottinghamshire Police * *
Police Scotland * *
Police Service of Northern Ireland 0 0
South Wales Police 3 11
South Yorkshire Police 11 24
Staffordshire Police 0 0
Surrey Police 32 42
Sussex Police * *
Thames Valley Police * *
Warwickshire Police 0 0
West Mercia Police 16 11
West Midlands Police 41 52
West Yorkshire Police 2 6
Wiltshire Police 10 32
Total 430 808
*Did not respond    

Click here for our list of the best electric cars on sale in the UK...

Recommended

UK passes major milestone with 10,000 EV rapid charge points
Rapid charger
News

UK passes major milestone with 10,000 EV rapid charge points

EV drivers have more charging choices than ever, and the roll-out rate continues to gather pace says Zapmap
7 Dec 2023
Electric car registrations slow despite overall new car sales growth
SMMT new car registration - total for November 2023
News

Electric car registrations slow despite overall new car sales growth

Pure-electric car take-up was steady in November 2023 with plug-in hybrids surging in popularity
5 Dec 2023
UK car thefts hit an all-time high with keyless car tech to blame
Thief breaking in to car
News

UK car thefts hit an all-time high with keyless car tech to blame

Car theft is at record levels in the UK according to data from LV insurance
4 Dec 2023
UK firm fitting ‘pop bang’ aftermarket exhausts fined in landmark court case
MINI Hatch exhaust
News

UK firm fitting ‘pop bang’ aftermarket exhausts fined in landmark court case

A successful court action against a workshop advertising and fitting non-standard exhaust parts is ‘a lesson for businesses’ from the DVSA
23 Nov 2023

Most Popular

‘Forget leasing a car, a cut-price van should be your next everyday vehicle’
Opinion - Fiat Scudo
Opinion

‘Forget leasing a car, a cut-price van should be your next everyday vehicle’

With some huge savings to be had, Mike Rutherford thinks a van could be the perfect vehicle
3 Dec 2023
Deal of the Day: Spacious Skoda Superb is a peerless estate for £223 a month
Skoda Superb Estate - front tracking
News

Deal of the Day: Spacious Skoda Superb is a peerless estate for £223 a month

The Superb is one of our favourite estates and our Deal of the Day for Monday 4 December
4 Dec 2023
New Renault 5: price, specs, launch and on sale dates
Renault 5 EV concept at 2022 Goodwood Festival of Speed
News

New Renault 5: price, specs, launch and on sale dates

Renault’s reborn Renault 5 will start from €25,000 in Europe, suggesting a circa-£30k price in the UK. It's due on sale in the summer of 2024. Here's …
1 Dec 2023