The Honolulu Police Department is going green this summer by adding seven gas/electric hybrid vehicles to its fleet.

Department spokesman Maj. Frank Fujii said six sedans and a sport utility vehicle will be acquired through a bid process. A growing number of national and international police jurisdictions have been turning to hybrids. This pilot program will allow HPD to gauge their performance in the field.

Fuel costs account for $1 out of every $6 spent by HPD, Fujii said.

Police could spend up to $30,000 each for six sedans and $51,000 for a sport utility vehicle, Fujii said. The hybrid sedans would be less expensive than the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor model being used by HPD, Fujii said.

The hybrid SUV will be used as a mobile command vehicle by staff, Fujii said, and will not be bulletproof or exclusively for the chief's use, as previously reported in The Advertiser. "One-half of the subsidized vehicles in our fleet are SUVs," Fujii noted, "so we need to test (the hybrid's) capabilities."

Among the hybrid models being used by police elsewhere are the Lexus RX400h SUV and Lexus GS450h sedan, Toyota Prius, Ford's flexible-fuel version of the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, and the Mercury Marine SUV.

In September 2006 Northern Illinois University reported that its Department of Public Safety fleet was 80 percent hybrid, with 12 Prius cars being used for patrol. The university said its fleet of Prius hybrids were getting 44 miles per gallon, compared to less than 10 mpg with its previous fleet of Crown Victorias.

Hampshire police in the United Kingdom said its Lexus GS450h sedans could accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in 5.9 seconds and get 35.8 mpg.