Several hybrid vehicles will soon join the fleet of Honolulu Police Department patrol cars.
It's a six month pilot project.

Six 2009 Toyota Camrys will hit the road Monday patrolling Oahu.

" The whole intent was to bring the 6 vehicles here so we can test them here in Honolulu to see what the capabilities are and how we can best use them at the police department," said HPD Major Frank Fujii.

One officer will be designated to use the car to test its potential while responding to calls.

"These cars are going to be used like regular patrol cars and again the whole intent of this pilot project is to see how the cars operate under normal control conditions."

Because the hybrid cars do not have cages installed they will be used primarily to patrol districts and tag drivers for traffic violations.

Each car will be assigned to the following districts.
They include Downtown, Kalihi, East Honolulu, Windward, Pearl City, and Waianae/Kapolei.

The new units were purchased with federal money... 28-thousand dollars a piece. That's about 15-hundred more than the current patrol cars. A cost the department hopes to make up with fuel savings.

" The Crown Vics that we currently use get about 10-15 miles a gallon depending on how they're used we expect these vehicles to get about 33 miles to the gallon."

The department uses about 133-thousand gallons of gas each month.

At the end of the project, the department will decide if the more expensive hybrids are worth the cost.

"If it's successful everybody wins police department runs more efficiently we're making better use of technology community wins because we're winning."

Vanessa may be reached at vstewart @khon2.com or ph. 591-4209.