The NYPD unveiled 140 new hybrid vehicles on Thursday, but officials acknowledged significant infrastructure and technology challenges stand in the way of the city’s mandated transition to fully electric patrol cars by 2035.

The new hybrids will help modernize an aging fleet. About 70% of the NYPD's 8,992 vehicles have passed their five-year life cycle. Hybrid vehicles, which typically operate on electricity at lower speeds and gas at higher speeds, make up about half of the NYPD's fleet.

The department currently has fewer than 500 fully electric vehicles, mostly limited to school safety and traffic enforcement duties.

The new SUVs cost about $79,000 each, including the outfitting needed to make them suitable for patrol.

Keith Kerman, deputy commissioner of the Department of Citywide A

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