Electric police truck given green light by town of Winamac

The Winamac Police Department will be adding a Ford F150 Lightning to their fleet hopefully in the spring thanks to a majority vote from the Winamac Town Council on Monday, Jan. 9. Campbell highlighted that the truck is completely electric and goes from zero to 60 in four seconds. The vehicle could save up to $57,000 in fuel costs alone. The truck would have an extended battery life and would come to about $83,000. The battery would have an eight year, 100,000 mile warranty. Campbell said that their vehicles average between 70 and 100 miles per day. The vehicle would take about 2.5 hours to charge on a class 2 charger. Some of the council members showed concern that the cost savings wasn't as significant as they expected. Town manager Brad Zellers had spoken to the North Judson Town Council, who said that in not even a year, they saved $3,000 with their Tesla. Chief Campbell said that if they were approved for the vehicle, they plan on not "running it into the ground." He said they expect to put on about 90,000 miles and then they would consider trading it in to either get a new one or to get a conventional police car. Councilwoman Judy Heater made a motion to purchase the electric vehicle and it was seconded by Weaver. The motion passed, with vice president Alvin Parish in opposition and councilman Tom Murray abstaining from the vote.