One of Falmouth Police Department’s two electric vehicles charging at the new station. Rachel Vitello / The Forecaster
The Falmouth Police Department has installed four charging stations to serve its two electric vehicles and those it hopes to add to the fleet in the future.
One of the department’s electric vehicles is new, arriving only two days before the charging stations were installed last week. The other, used for training, previously had to be charged at Maine State Police headquarters in Augusta using a household outlet plug, which would take about two or three days to fully charge, according to Lt. Jeffrey Pardue.
“Our fuel usage is down significantly versus traditionally what it’s been in years past, so we’ve had an overage in our fuel allowance, which we used to pay for the clean electricity that’s being used to power the electric vehicles,” Pardue said.
The new charging stations are in line with the department’s sustainability goals for the future.
The Falmouth Police Department has four new electric vehicle chargers. Rachel Vitello / The Forecaster
“If we could reduce our emissions and provide service to the public at the same level that we’re doing now, why not?” Police Chief John Kilbride said. “We’re also cautious in how we spend our dollars, so if we could take advantage of grants and funding opportunities to do that it was a win-win.”
Since adding its first electric vehicle to the fleet in 2018, the department has saved about 3,000 gallons of fuel per year and about 60,000 of pounds of carbon monoxide emissions, Kilbride said.
The department hopes to add more electric vehicles over the years and eventually put solar panels on the roof of the building to further its sustainability goals.
The installation is part of Central Maine Power’s Make-Ready Pilot Program, which CMP launched last September in an effort to better understand consumer preferences for electric vehicle chargers.
The Make-Ready Pilot Program offers a $4,000 incentive to applicants that install the charging stations. CMP, in partnership with Revision Energy, covers up to $4,000 of installation and infrastructure costs for the chargers. Municipalities, businesses, multi-unit dwellings, offices and police departments are among the entities eligible to apply for the program, according to program manager Aaron Smith. There are now 15 sites with 60 plugs total.
Falmouth plugs are not available for public use.
The four charging plugs cost about $24,000, but through the CMP program, the department needed to spend only $8,000 for installation costs, which came from its fuel budget, Pardue said.
Transportation accounts for more than 50% of Maine’s emissions from fossil fuels, according to Jason Rauch, Energy, Environmental, and Regulatory Policy manager for CMP.
“We see this program as helping enable the state’s goals for decarbonization,” he said.
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