Kimiya Manoochehri

USA TODAY

LOS ANGELES -- Most public employees would never dream of driving a BMW -- at least on the job.

But that's what going to be happening in Los Angeles, thanks to deal to lease 100 of BMW's small i3 electric cars in a bid to enhance the city's sustainability efforts.

The Los Angeles Police Department has taken out a three-year lease on the the fleet. It will pay $387 per month per car, including maintenance. It gets cheaper yet: Since they are electric cars, there will be no gasoline costs and as part of the deal, a company called Greenlots is supplying chargers.

Even though the leased i3s are BMWs, city and BMW officials went to lengths to dispute that, at least in this case, they would be considered luxury cars.

"Other car manufacturers competed, they couldn’t beat the price," said Vartan Yegiyan, director of police transportation for the police department, at a press conference near police headquarters to show off the fleet."So BMW did do their homework and they wanted to sell the cars."

The cars will be driven by detectives and police staff, often for follow-ups to criminal cases. Those workers still expect to get plenty of use from the cars, up to 10,000 miles per car a year. They won't be used as black-and-white patrol cruisers. And they say they're hoping to get electric-powered patrol cars in the next few years.

“In the next three to four years, we will learn from the technology and use the opportunity to work with car manufacturers and design a robust high-performance patrol electric vehicle,” says Yegiyan “That’s our aim.”

BMW has announced that for the 2017 model year, the i3’s range will be expanded from 85 to 115 miles on a single charge. Company officials are looking forward to the opportunity to partner with the LAPD, to demonstrate the reliability of electric vehicles.

“These cars were designed specifically for urban environments,” says BMW spokesman David Buchko, “even large ones like L.A...These cars are perfectly suited to that sort of environment.”

The car's level of sophistication goes beyond just being electric powered.

The police department will be able to receive data directly from the cars to monitor their performance. The department anticipates it will be help managers keep tabs on the fleet more efficiently.

“We’re developing a web tool specifically for them to be able to track in near-real time what's going on with the vehicles as well,” said Jennifer Reed Banando,

an electric vehicle marketing executive for BMW.