Electric police cars are ‘running out of puff’ and causing ‘lots of problems’ www.express.co.uk/life-style/cars/1636132/electric-car-polic…
Gloucester Constabulary has the largest full electric fleet in the UK, with 21% of their 435 vehicles being electric…
He said the vehicles using their lights, radio and sirens were in danger of “running out of puff”. Mr Nelson acknowledged that some officers, especially in more rural areas, were having issues locating charging stations…
“We’ve all got to go towards electric vehicles. We have the largest fleet by percentage size – that has brought its problems. The design options available for electric vehicles for operational uses are not perhaps as advanced as I would like them to be. So, let’s put it like this, I’m cautious about going any further down that road at this stage."
While a long-range Tesla would make an excellent police car, the expense is probably prohibitive, and most run of the mill EVs lack the big battery and long range that would be recommended for robust patrol car use. Some percentage of patrol car assignments might be met with a typical 250 mile range EV, i.e. an urban assignment that doesn’t cover a wide area, but if the officer may have to run out into far-flung suburbs or rural areas a few times a day, that could be a problem.
Hybrids would appear to be the way to go for this use, for now, as the most efficient option that can meet the demands of the job. Plug-in hybrid if an appropriate affordable model is available, if not just a regular hybrid that boosts the mpg of the patrol car 50% would be a big step up.
An update on the Bargersville, Indiana police force’s adoption of Teslas, which began with one car in 2019 and has expanded to seven, soon to be nine, due to cost savings.
They are a small town, so they don’t have to worry about the range limitations that could come into play in large jurisdictions. Their first Tesla was a Model 3 Standard Range Plus, which had ~240 mile range. The new base trim Model 3 is the RWD model, with 273 miles EPA range, while the AWD model has 358 mile range, which should be sufficient for even large jurisdictions, I’d think.
Of course you can just read numerous stories of actual use of Teslas as police cars. They save money, in addition to their other attributes.
I wonder how these cars are connected to the Tesla HQ?
For example, if you lock yourself out Tesla can unlock the car for you.
They can even, remotely, disable the need for a key to drive it. This is how the mobile service tech is able to work on your car without you needing to be present.
So does Tesla still provide this capability for police cars? Or it it all disabled?
It was revealed that at least 20 police stations across the country had the bespoke cars but officers were unable to recharge them on-site, meaning they were reliant on partner organisations and public plugs…
Figures discovered by the Scottish Liberal Democrats found that a whopping 23 police stations had the environmentally-friendly cars but no charging points currently installed. In addition, there are currently 21 sites which have just 28 chargers spread between them.
The party were approached by one police officer who told them: “Where I work they gave us five new electric vehicles but no charging point. They had to charge them via one cable through an office window and into a domestic three point socket…guess what happened to the socket…now the five vehicles are being deposited overnight in various council car parks across the town, in the hope that no damage comes to them. Meanwhile, we are back to using the old diesel cars, because at least we know where the service station is."