Source: NIU | The police of the municipality Brussels-Hoofdstad-Elsene took delivery of their first fleet of fully electric police scooters. These vehicles will mostly be used by the traffic police to quickly move through the city during their daily job. It can help to close streets when traffic is backing up, or swift movements during protests for crowd control.

The emission-free silent vehicles make for perfect partners in an already very noisy and busy city center. The officers are now able to drive through pedestrian areas and parks without disturbing the population or making themself known from afar.

The fleet of 15 scooters are made by the popular Chinese brand NIU (known all over Brussels from the sharing services Poppy and Felyx) and delivered by the NIU Flagshipstore Antwerpen. The police chose the NIU NQi Pro scooter because of its long range and versatile capabilities and great reliability. As an emergency service it is important that they have material to count on in all situations.

The scooters have an autonomy of more than 100 kilometers and can be charged quickly. As Brussels is a city with considerable height differences the electric scooters have a big advantage over their ICE counterparts because of their high torque and acceleration. Even when going up a steep hill they keep their full speed of 45km/h. The scooters are also very comfortable for a days work. They have been fitted with a thick seat, on board USB chargers, windscreen, and a aluminum 46 liter splash waterproof topcase.

The police vehicles fully comply with all regulations in regard to the official striping, LED bars and sirene. The lights are wired so they can keep flashing when the key is removed from the vehicle. This allows one officer to control a whole street or intersection without leaving the scooter in a vulnerable position.

NIU Antwerpen hopes to inspire other police corps and government institutions to look at different, new ways to efficiently commute inside the city.