Pittsburgh is getting its first hybrid police cruisers and the mayor is “leaning toward” a color change from the current white, black and gold to a silver aimed at signifying steel.

Mayor Bill Peduto said he would make a decision on the color change before ordering the purchase of 32 Ford Police Interceptor Utility Hybrids in December or early January. The mayor said he wants a standard color for all vehicles in the city fleet, including public works vehicles and garbage trucks. Fire trucks would retain their current red coloring, Peduto said.

Most city vehicles are predominantly white with different decals signifying the department. The white would change to silver. Pittsburgh has approximately 1,100 vehicles, including boats and trailers.

“We don’t have any consistency when it comes to the seals, when it comes to our vehicles, when it comes to our stationery , when it comes to our website,” Peduto said. “We just want to be able to have when people see a vehicle, they’ll know it’s a city of Pittsburgh vehicle. We’re looking at the silver to represent steel. We believe that there’s a consistent look that our public works trucks, our garbage trucks, our police cars could have that would be different than any other municipality in Allegheny County and would be consistent along with everything else that we brand that has the city of Pittsburgh’s name on it.”

He said the new color would be phased in over a period of years as the city replaces fleet vehicles. The mayor said his office is checking to see if the silver color would cost more than white.

He’s also considering incorporating a checkerboard decal on the vehicles patterned after William Pitt’s coat of arms that appears on the city seal.

“It would be something that would be done very tastefully,” he said.

Robert Swartzwelder, president of Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge 1, said the color of cars is not a contractual matter and the union would take no position on it.

“He’s the mayor,” Swartzwelder said. “He’s allowed to change the color of police cars.”

The city is buying its first hybrid police cars for fuel efficiency and as part of Peduto’s plan to have an entirely fossil-fuel-free fleet by 2030. The Ford Police Interceptors come highly rated by the Michigan State Police, which is nationally recognized as an authority on police vehicles.

Base price for a hybrid is $35,840, compared to $32,475 for a six-cylinder gasoline vehicle, according to Peduto spokesman Tim McNulty. Ford claims the hybrids will save taxpayers between $3,500 and $5,700 per vehicle in fuel costs annually.

Inspectors with the Department of Permits, Licenses and Inspections use electric vehicles and the city has several garbage trucks that run on natural gas, Peduto said.

The city Fire Bureau recently purchased solar panels for three Ford F-150 pickups used by fire investigators. The panels provide a constant charging option for battery-powered equipment used by investigators, according to Norman Auvil, the assistant fire chief. The panels totaled about $1,500 and prevent the draining of truck batteries, he said.

“The idea is that we will have moved by 2030 away from fossil fuel with our larger equipment moving more toward biodiesel and the smaller engines moving toward electric,” Peduto said.

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