California Police Say Teslas Make Terrible Patrol Cars
Story by Ronan Glon • 17h
In 2020, California governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill banning the sale of new gasoline- and diesel-powered cars by 2035. The law also applies to the state’s police departments, but it doesn’t sound like Tesla will be getting a large share of the cop car market. Several high-ranking officials from police departments in Northern California said that the Tesla models they’ve tested are turning out to be terrible patrol cars.
Speaking to SFGate, Ukiah Police Department Chief Cedric Crook explained his department bought a pair of Model 3 sedans to use as patrol cars in August 2024. The bill amounted to nearly $150,000, including the purchase price and about $35,000 in modifications. It’s not just lights, sirens, and a big bull bar: patrol cars also require a partition, a gun rack, ballistic panels, and communication equipment like a police radio.
Crook said that there’s only one company capable of turning the Model 3 into a patrol car: Unplugged Performance, which runs a fleet division called UPfit and also sells a range of performance-oriented parts for Tesla models. The company told Crook that preparing the two EVs for duty would “take months,” according to the report. In contrast, the list of third-party shops that turn Ford and Chevrolet models into patrol cars is long.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/california-police-say-teslas-make-terrible-patrol-cars/ar-AA1s6UnJ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=7b3877618f3b419da5640c00feba96fe&ei=171
