The City of Kenai's vehicle maintenance shop has developed a built-in jump-starting system that can revive a police car with a dead battery. The system is powered by the push of a button underneath the vehicle's steering wheel, which is connected to a self-contained jump unit under the vehicle’s hood.
The system was designed, built and installed by shop employees within the last two months. The unit was made with three parts, including a battery commonly found in a jump pack.
“What makes it unique is that we’ve got it set up so the onboard vehicle could be completely dead, could be missing, could be gone completely," said Scott Morris, foreman for Kenai's shop garage. "This unit is so self-contained that when you push the button, it’s drawing from its own power to activate itself and start the car.”
The Kenai shop maintains all of the city’s vehicles, but of those requiring a jump start, the police department accounts for the majority. When a patrol car dies, officers either need another vehicle or a battery pack to bring the car back to life. Those aren’t always available.
Kenai police chief David Ross says the shop’s jumpstart battery button saves officers time, which can save lives.
“With all the electronics that are in police vehicles, they drain on batteries, and the batteries don’t always get charged to a full degree when the vehicles are out on patrol," he said. "I think over time, that creates an issue that you wouldn’t otherwise experience. They saw a problem and came up with a great solution.”
The shop’s only installed a jump unit in one police vehicle so far. But, they hope to soon install one in each of the city’s police cars. Morris says the jump units cost a little over $100 to assemble and about an hour to install.
“Our incentive is to try and make sure that the police are available to respond as much as they possibly can," Morris said. "We don’t want their car’s reliability to be what holds them back.”
Morris says he’s unaware of other police departments that use battery jump units in their vehicles. He says problems caused by dead batteries aren’t unique to Kenai’s police force, and they’d gladly expand their innovation to other departments.
