Chief Deputy Kevin Kraus said the decision to test drive the Model 3 was based on the Sheriff’s Office’s goal to become more environmentally conscious and cost-efficient, both easily attainable objectives with the help of electric vehicles. Kraus noted that his interest stemmed from news of law enforcement agencies adding Teslas to their lineup of patrol vehicles, [such as the Fremont Police] and the Bargersville, [Indiana police department]
This prompted the Office to contact Tesla directly, who in turn gave them a Model 3 to use for the week.
But forgetting to plug it in is the whole problem. A 5 minute stop for gas is much more efficient (for police duty) than 30 minutes to an hour for charging the car.
I don’t even look for these things and my twitter feed is constantly “super charger down”. SD/Camino Del Sur, Culver City, San Mateo seem to have chargers offline more than online. Thank goodness you can charge at home.
In that case, in a chase, that 5 min fill up stop would have the same result…losing the suspect.
I’m sure you don’t…poor you, always being harassed by these damn superchargers. BTW, are you aware the Teslas can use the regular DCFC too?
Because they can’t get their own? What’s stopping them?
But honestly, even a free L2 that Tesla provides would be enough if they just plug in when they park.
If anyone is wondering if Tesla is going mainstream…in CA they already did. The 3 was close to being second best sold car in the state last Q and probably will take the crown in next Q.
But the cop could have put gas in quickly at the beginning of the shift. Until charging takes the same time as filling up a tank of gas, I don’t see how it is a viable option for police use.
Note: I’m not saying electric vehicles are bad, just that I don’t think that any emergency personnel should currently have to wait 30 minutes even at a supercharger to “fill up.”
I have a long list of cars i have never been into…Camry is one of them. Is that supposed to mean anything?
You are not alone in thinking all police cars do 300mile+ chases on daily basis…but why? In SoCal for example, if a chase last for say 100 miles it would involve different jurisdiction, the reason why you see cars dropping the chase while others join in. Truth is police uses cars for many purposes other than chasing so to have a few evs along side gas cars is really nothing new.
Where did I ever say that all police cars do chases every day? All I am saying is that if someone forgets to plug in their electric police car, it is a 30+ minute fill up vs 5 minutes with gas.
If my electric car isn’t charged and I’m one of the hundreds of thousands of people who haven’t had power for several days, I’ll just grab an Uber when we get the order to evacuate.
