DEC 2022. Blues Vol 38 No. 12

Spanish Police Take

Spanish Police Take Delivery of 169 Electrified BMWs Spanish police in the city of Madrid have purchased 169 electrified vehicles from BMW to renew a portion of its vehicle fleet. The authorities will take delivery of BMW i3, BMW 225xe Active Tourer, BMW 220i Active Tourer, BMW 530i, and BMW X5 xDrive30d models as part of the deal with the German car manufacturer. Approximately onethird of the vehicles delivered will be EVs and plug-in hybrids while the rest will be mild-hybrids with 48-volt systems. The Madrid Municipal Police will use the vehicles for a variety of functions. For example, the all-electric models will be used primarily in Central Madrid while the X5s can be equipped with a host of accessories, including a snow shovel, winch, traction strap, and hooks. A handful of these cars were handed over to the Madrid Municipal Police during a ceremony with Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida, BMW Group Spain and Portugal executive chairman Manuel Terroba, and the general director of the Municipal Police, Pablo Enrique Rodríguez Pérez. While the BMW i3 is far from the most imposing vehicle out there, it has been used by a number of police forces around the world since its introduction. These include forces in Austria, Romania, Italy, and the United States, including the Los Angeles Police Department. Interestingly, BMW ended production of the i3 in August so it is unclear where it has sourced these new police vehicles from. One possibility is that they were all built prior to August or that they were i3s without buyers that were rounded up and converted into police vehicles. 54 The BLUES The BLUES 55