Papamoa Community Patrol is saving fuel and keeping their neighbourhood safe with their brand new electric vehicle.

The Papamoa Community Patrol were delighted when Ebbett Tauranga gave them a fully sponsored electric vehicle at the end of July.

Patrol leader Debbie Youngman says their new electrically-powered car has lifted a huge burden for them. 'This year we had budgeted $9000 just for fuel alone and immediately that's $9000 that we don't have to fundraise for, find sponsors for or donations for.”

Neighbourhood safety

With the hefty prices of petrol, the patrol team was going to struggle. 'If we couldn't get the $9000, we were going to have to cut down our patrolling,” says Debbie. 'We patrol around 2200km a month so that's why our petrol bill is so expensive.”

Debbie says on average the volunteer team does more than 260 hours of patrolling per month. 'We have a day, a dusk, and a night patrol or sometimes we will also have a late night/early morning patrol…so by not having to worry about fuel now we will be able to continue to keep our neighbourhood safe.”

Hearing their concerns, Julian Clements, dealer principal at Ebbett Tauranga, offered the Papamoa patrol team an electric vehicle to support their community efforts. 'We were just like: ‘Wow really?'” says Debbie. 'We never thought we'd be in a position to be offered an EV at all.”

Not being able to look out for their neighbourhood is no longer a concern for the patrol team. 'It's so much better in the EV and we just feel that we're better servicing the community in an electric vehicle rather than in a fuel vehicle,” says Debbie. With an EV charger based at the Papamoa Police Station that is TECT-funded, each shift simply plugs in the vehicle – no longer having to juggle petrol station fuel ups.

Quiet service

As a quiet vehicle on the road, this has improved the patrol team's communication too. 'When you're sitting there with your engine running beside someone who is trying to tell you something really important it's quite difficult – so this vehicle is just silent,” says Debbie. 'We were always very conscious about the noise that we were possibly making travelling around some of the smaller streets in Papamoa and now we don't need to worry about creating the noise.”

Looking ahead, Debbie says the patrol will work towards purchasing a second EV. 'Papamoa is growing so much that we're going to need a second vehicle in the not-too-distant future. We will be asking local businesses and the Papamoa Community to help us with this.

'Although we currently have a sponsored vehicle we still need to raise operational funds so we are always fundraising and looking for sponsorship and donations to keep us on the road.”