Electric vehicles are great at many things, but police work might not be one of them. The Menlo Park police department in California has been testing three Tesla Model Ys, and its takeaways from the trial run show that it might be some time before EVs catch on with mainstream law enforcement agencies.
Menlo Park PD said the Model Y was “nearly unusable” for police work because their interiors aren’t accommodating for officers wearing bulletproof vests and duty belts. That said, they did enjoy some of the vehicle’s driving dynamics.
The department’s report read, “Officers using the vehicles appreciated the acceleration, steering, and vehicle speed compared to the hybrids and remaining gasoline-only patrol vehicles. However, the Teslas presented challenges due to the small interior space, ‘smart car’ features, and low vehicle profile limiting maneuverability.”
Teslas “do not appear to be ‘the patrol cars of the future’ in their current configuration,” according to the report’s conclusion. Officers also cited difficulties charging, and the department would need to invest heavily to upfit any EV for police duty, making the tried-and-true gas-powered workhorses more attractive.
This report puts police departments in a tough spot. In 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved a plan to mandate the end of gas vehicle sales in the state by 2035. While that may seem like a lifetime from now, it’s a relatively tight window for law enforcement leaders to test, purchase, and upfit fleets of electric patrol vehicles, and the lackluster trial results won’t help.
[Images: Tesla]
Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.
