(August 19, 2011) COSTA MESA, Calif. (PRNewswire) — T3 Motion, a producer of clean technology electric vehicles, announced this week that the University of Southern California has placed an order for nine additional T3 ESVs to supplement their electric vehicle fleet.

In 2007, USC entered a trial period with T3 ESVs to assess the vehicle benefits and capabilities for security initiatives. Since then, the school has purchased 28 ESVs — making their fleet the largest of any university worldwide. The vehicles have been used on the 300-acre campus for security patrol checks, student escorts, traffic and crowd control.

USC has a history of using battery-powered vehicles for security patrol on their campus. Prior to their T3 Series implementation, their electric security vehicle fleet had limited range and running time, thereby restricting the officer's ability to provide effective patrols.

The USC public safety department would spend more time re-charging their fleet versus actual run time. This inequity meant USC needed to have twice the vehicles to cover a 24-hour patrol environment. The T3 Series ESVs offered the perfect solution for these problems by featuring light, easily-swapped batteries that can be exchanged in less than a minute, allowing patrol vehicles to be deployed for 24-hour patrols with virtually no downtime.

“The USC Department of Public Safety has long been a vanguard institution when it comes to using electric vehicles for campus safety patrols,” said Ki Nam, CEO of T3 Motion. “With their long history of popular sporting events and remarkably active student body, USC has a unique array of requirements for agile, 24-hour patrol vehicles. Our T3 ESVs are perfectly suited for these needs and we are proud to be a part of the USC team.”

"T3 ESVs allow our officers to connect with the community while working to keep it safe," stated Chief Drayton of the USC Department of Public Safety." With their design well-suited for 24-hour patrol capabilities, energy efficiency and command presence, expanding our T3 fleet is an easy choice for our department. T3 ESVs are a valued part of our public safety team."

T3 Series ESVs are in use for security and parking enforcement at over 90 universities across the country including Northwestern, Princeton, Virginia Tech, University of Alabama, and Boston University.