(Just The News)—The Michigan State Police is piloting its first electric patrol vehicle, which hit the streets this week in Lansing.
“This is an exciting opportunity for us to research, in real time, how a battery electric vehicle performs on patrol,” said Col. James F. Grady II, director of the Michigan State Police.
This is just one part of the state’s wider move towards green energy, with many of the initiatives being a part of its Michigan Healthy Climate Plan.
One goal is to build out the state’s electric vehicle infrastructure to support “2 million EVs on Michigan roads by 2030.”
Aaron Viles, senior director of campaigns for the Electrification Coalition, told The Center Square there is “definitely more to do in order to meet the goal of 2 million EVs.” This includes more state investments into “EV policies that support ever-cleaner transportation fueling options” like electric school buses.
Currently, the first electric parole vehicle will be assigned to the State Security Operations Section to be used by state properties security officers as they parole state-owned and leased facilities in the Lansing area.
It’s unclear if this will eventually lead to a wider adoption of electric vehicles by the Michigan State Police, with Grady acknowledging some of the limitations that electric patrol vehicles might have.
“Our state properties security officers patrol a substantially smaller number of miles per day than our troopers and motor carrier officers, within city limits and at lower speeds,” he said. “Coupled with the availability of charging infrastructure in downtown Lansing, making this the ideal environment to test the capabilities of a police-package battery electric vehicle.”
The vehicle’s performance will be studied as a part of the state police’s Precision Driving Unit, which provides data for police nationwide.
“We began testing battery electric vehicles in 2022, but up until now hybrids were the only alternative fuel vehicle in our fleet,” said Lt. Nicholas Darlington, commander of the unit. “Adding this battery electric vehicle to our patrol fleet will allow us to study the vehicle’s performance long-term to determine if there is a potential for cost savings and broader applicability within our fleet.”
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
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Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
