The New Zealand Police is making the first tentative steps into BEVs (Battery Electric Vehicles) following an announcement from Hyundai NZ that it will be supplying a number of Kona Electric and Ioniq 5 BEVs for non-operational use at 15 locations around the country.
The supply deal includes five 72kWh Ioniq 5s and 34 64kWh Kona Electrics and forms part of police plans to build an emission-free vehicle fleet within five years.
NZ Police made the move to lower emission cars when the four-cylinder ZB Holden Commodore replaced the Australian-built V6 model in 2017, and then switched to the Skoda Superb following Holden’s demise in 2020.
Since Skoda took over supply, NZ Police has also tested a number of plug-in hybrid Superbs, but the Hyundais are its first foray into full electric cars. The cars won’t be frontline patrol vehicles, however, and Hyundai says the cars will be used by police support personnel.
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Both Hyundai BEVs selected by the police offer long ranges, with the 64kWh Kona Electric getting up to 484km in the WLTP test cycle, while the 72kWh Ioniq 5 has a WLTP range of up to 481km for the FWD model and 460km for the AWD model. Hyundai hasn’t specified which version the police are taking.
Of course, Skoda also has a BEV on the way to New Zealand, but its Enyaq iV won’t arrive here until sometime in 2023, having been delayed by the global semiconductor shortage. The Enyaq iV will come with a number of battery options ranging from a 55kWh version that offers a WLTP-tested range of 340km up to an 82kWh version that offers 460km.
