Connersville, In. is in the running to serve as headquarters for a new high-tech police car that could deliver $3 billion in economic impact to eastern Indiana over the next decade, says the Richmond, In., Palladium-Item. Carbon Motors Corporation has selected the city as one of five finalists for its CarbonE7 project. Other finalists announced Tuesday are in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and South Carolina. “Our production time frame is [] 2012,” said Carbon Motors co-founder Stacy Dean Stephens.
Police cars have evolved from basic car designs, starting with simply putting on lights and sirens and putting in more horsepower. There are about 19,000 departments across the country using a variety of units, many that “are incredibly unsafe,” Stephens said. Now, most departments require electronics and other specialized equipment. Many of the cars are driven 90,000 miles a year. There are about 450,000 police cars in use across the United States and about 75,000 are replaced each year.