Cops Don’t Love Teslas After All

In California, the Irvine Police Department precocious got a batch of attraction aft it released a flashy promotional video showing disconnected its caller Tesla Cybertruck. The video has a spot of an eerie feeling to it owed successful portion to the information that it uses euphony from the Terminator movie franchise, successful which the cops are not precisely the bully guys. 

Irvine PD claims that this is the archetypal Tesla Cybertruck to beryllium utilized arsenic a constabulary vehicle, though it’s lone being utilized for the D.A.R.E. anti-drug programme and not connected patrol. Taxpaying residents surely emotion that. 

You mightiness wonderment though, are Tesla’s bully arsenic actual, real-deal, crime-fighting constabulary vehicles? EVs person accelerated acceleration, steering, and awesome apical speeds, truthful they mightiness look ideal. 

SFGate looked into this precise question, speaking with 3 constabulary departments successful Northern California who person already tried adding Tesla’s to their fleets. And though nary came distant pessimistic astir the electrical cars, they weren’t terribly enthusiastic astir them either. But their complaints besides item an contented for EVs successful general, not conscionable arsenic they subordinate to instrumentality enforcement use. 

It seems intuitive that charging mightiness beryllium the biggest contented for constabulary who person to thrust astir each day, but it wasn’t really. Instead, the 2 issues constabulary chiefs highlighted astir were the size of the vehicles and customization. 

Ukiah Police Department successful Mendocino County moved to acquisition 2 Model 3s aft the metropolis assembly determination passed a solution successful 2022 directing departments to person to greenish vehicles wherever possible. Police Chief Cedric Crook told SFGate that 2 Model 3s with modifications for police-readiness came to $150,000. 

The archetypal contented helium mentioned with the cars were those modifications. Teslas are notoriously hard to get serviced oregon customized nether mean conditions, and constabulary request a slew of additions including exigency lights, propulsion bars, partitions, and ballistic panels to toughen them up. The lone spot to modify Teslas successful specified a mode seems to beryllium Unplugged Performance successful Hawthorne, which besides modified the Cybertruck for Irvine PD. Crook learned aft contacting Unplugged that it would instrumentality months to customize the Model 3s—and he’d person to transport them hundreds of miles to Southern California first. 

That’s an annoyance, but compartment size was yet a deal-breaker. Crook recovered that the Model 3s backmost seats “only person country for 1 prisoner,” limiting the quality to sequester aggregate suspects astatine a time. And the work belts that officers deterioration tin adhd a batch of value and bulk to their torso, seemingly making it hard to get successful and retired of the Model 3s slim driver’s seat. Another constabulary section successful Menlo Park, close adjacent Tesla’s Palo Alto HQ, made the aforesaid complaint—and they were utilizing roomier Model Y crossovers. Adding a partition separating the beforehand and backmost seats reduced disposable abstraction up beforehand wherever the halfway console and constabulary machine are located. “Officers reported the cramped compartment caused their work belts and bulletproof vests to jut into the rider seat, ‘making it astir unusable’,” SFGate discovered. 

Crooks inactive has to hold six months for the vehicles to decorativeness being modified, but for the different reasons mentioned, decided they volition conscionable beryllium utilized by administrative staff. Again, taxpayers indispensable emotion $150,000 being spent connected 2 cars for paper-pushers.

In Fort Bragg, the constabulary section opted for Ford F-150 Lightnings alternatively of Teslas, and the constabulary main reported they are rather satisfied with them. The conveyance is much of an evident prime due to the fact that its plan is astir identical to the gas-powered F-150. That’s bully due to the fact that they’re seemingly akin capable to the combustion mentation that some parts and mechanics who tin enactment connected them are readily available. He feared the Teslas would beryllium stuck successful the store excessively often. 

The plan of the F-150, helium said, is besides conscionable much conducive to constabulary enactment than a 3 oregon Y. In particular, its precocious clearance is important for jumping curbs and off-road use. This is 1 that each the constabulary departments successful the stories mentioned—the Teslas beryllium excessively low. The F-150 successful peculiar is besides perfect conscionable due to the fact that it has a motortruck furniture wherever constabulary equipment, bikes, and different tools tin beryllium stored. 

Of course, a Cybertruck should beryllium capable to code immoderate of these issues. But customization and repairability are inactive an issue, and Cybertrucks are massive. Fort Bragg, wherever they chose F-150 Lightnings, is simply a tiny and isolated spot connected the coast. Police surely request a smaller patrol car for municipality environments, and Tesla’s Model 3 and Y are not rather designed for it.

Ultimately a large ailment that adjacent civilians person astir EVs is that determination are not capable options to take from that entreaty to each peculiar niche, truthful the complaints from constabulary are not crazy. There are excessively fewer options successful EVs, and combustion vehicles payment from decades of infrastructure built astir them.