California cops who are trialing Teslas ahead of ban on gas vehicles say they are 'nearly unusable'

Dailymail.Com ^ | 16 October 2024 | Melissa Koenig

[dennisw]

Among the California police departments that have tried using Teslas was the Ukiah Police Department, the largest municipal police force in Mendocino County.

There, Police Chief Cedrick Crook requested the City Council approve the purchase of two Tesla Model 3s, which is the company's sedan, on August 7, 2024.

That purchase totaled nearly $150,000 between the cost of the cars and $35,000 in modifications to make the Teslas patrol-ready, Crook told the San Francisco Gate.

He said the vehicles needed the standard emergency lights, sirens, radio, antenna, push bar, partition and gun rack, but the Teslas also needed to be upgraded with ballistic panels to toughen it up for the streets.

The problem is that there is only one modification shop for Teslas in the state: Unplugged Performance in Hawthorne, which is about 500 miles south of Ukiah.

Store employees said it would take months to make all the modifications necessary to make the vehicles patrol-ready.

Adding to the issues with the cars, only two Tesla Supercharger stations have been installed in the city over the past two years. It remains unclear how officers would be charging the electric vehicles, Crook said.

He noted that police are often required to transport suspects, witnesses or victims to trials or court dates, which could be far away, and if detectives were driving a Tesla, Crook said they would have to spend time at an unsecured public charging station while protecting the person.

Since then, a number of local municipalities have implemented their own goals to convert their fleet of gas-powered cars to electric vehicles.

But the police chiefs who have purchased Teslas say the design of the cars is detrimental to police operations.

[Vaduz]

They take a lot of pride
in the Smokey Bear saga.

Reality gets thin

[Sgt_Schultze]

I’d think the most important area for ballistic panels would be encasing the battery. A single bullet could turn the battery into 1,000 lbs of thermite.