Originally published at: Teslas "nearly unusable" for police work - Boing Boing
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If law enforcement can’t rely on the most commercially available EVs
Have they tried, like, any other brand?
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No. The fifth most popular brand of EV (here) is the only one that exists in the media.
The only one. And it takes some stupid charger as well doesn’t it?
ETA
I would not want my tax money spent on hugely overpriced cars.
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If they want to use a Tesla product, the SUV model would be much better. Given the simpler infrastructure requirements for internal combustion engines (gasoline, diesel, natural gas) I can’t imagine any police departments with a broad geographical territory relying on electric vehicles for the full range of general duties yet.
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I would think that nearly any vehicle would work in that city. They’re small (pop. 25,000), dense (2.5 miles at the widest point), and wealthy (median household income around $130k). Not a hotbed of crime, so they barely need a police force at all.
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I’d think the biggest issue with EVs for police use is uptime. You can split ICE cruiser use among several shifts, but you have enforced downtime with EVs. Until there is quick swap out capability for batteries, I’m not sure EVs will be economical for police forces.
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How many miles a day does a police cruiser need to travel? Are there any stats?
A very quick, cursory Google may indicate it’s a lot less than people might think. To be fair, this is just people answering queries on Reddit and stuff.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskLE/comments/1c2klyx/average_mileage_for_patrol/
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NYPD has a growing fleet of Mustang Mach-Es. My neighborhood precinct got a couple of them in 2022 and I see them around the neighborhood all the time.
At least in NYC patrol cars are mostly assigned to a specific precinct (it says right on the car what precinct or other NYPD division a car belongs to). So even though NYC is huge, electric cars actually make a ton of sense for patrolling an individual precinct: my precinct is much less than a single square mile, electric cars have an even bigger efficiency advantage over ICE cars in city driving with lots of starting and stopping, and I bet electric charging is a lot cheaper (not to mention cleaner) than maintaining the precinct’s gas pump and storage tanks that have to be replenished regularly.
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Simpler than the electric grid? The whole refinery and shipping process, really? There was a time before subsidies provided that whole gas infrastructure. That’s just where we’re at again.
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The London Ambulance Service uses Mustang Mach-Es as fast response units.
It takes just 40 minutes to charge the Mustang battery to 80 per cent and that allows the car to travel more than 300 miles, which is about ten times further than an ambulance would normally cover on a shift.
They are also introducing electric ambulances.
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Google suggests about 150km. Many EVs have a range of 500km. Battery life shouldn’t be an issue.
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In other Tesla news today…
Among those who resigned are the CIO, the global vehicle automation and safety policy lead, and the director of public policy and business development.
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They can amuse those they’ve arrested with fart sounds.
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GAH! I was waiting for a moment to complain, I know there are some San Diegans on here, I saw a parking enforcement mustang mach-e. Yup, the 50k mini-SUV that is replacing… (checks notes) a one person trike.
Like c’mon, if you really think it’s important to prioritize going electric over looking for value with taxpayer dollars, just get a friggin’ Nissan Leaf or similar rock-bottom small electric, or heck just a street-legal golf-cart. You’re in parking enforcement, your Interceptor IIIs were never going to chase the bad guys to begin with.
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100 years ago most developed countries probably had more widespread electrical infrastructure than petrol infrastructure. For example, lots of cities had electric tram and trolley bus networks, providing high power connections.
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This is a good point. However sometimes spending decisions are made for accounting reasons. Several times I’ve been put in the situation of having to find something to spend a big chunk of money on because it’s too near the end of the company financial year and if you don’t exhaust your budget, it will just be reduced.
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“Nearly” ?! 
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Most cops are unsuitable for police work, too, so this seems on-message.
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Not to mention periods of steam infrastructure and gas lamps.
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