Police in California are learning yet another harsh lesson about electric cars. As the state government attempts to force everyone into electric cars, some local forces have been adding Teslas to their fleets. They’re quickly realizing that EVs actually are not functional enough to serve as police vehicles.
Many of the design features of a Tesla Model 3 or Model Y make them “nearly unusable” as police cruisers. A lack of charging infrastructure is one of the first and most obvious problems. Retrofitting a civilian EV to be a cop car is also a lengthy and expensive process. The car’s advanced driver safety features inhibit a police officer’s ability to use the vehicle as they want to in every situation, such as high-speed chases or PIT maneuvers.
A Tesla EV also has a pitifully small amount of interior space. Cops often need to put more than one suspect in the back seat. In a Tesla, there’s only room for one. An extra Tesla has to be brought in for every additional suspect at a crime scene, which puts a bigger strain on smaller police departments.
Officers also struggle to get in and out of a Tesla with their duty belts on due to the car’s cramped interior. Another major concern that cops have relates to a lesson they learn in the police academy. If they get in a gunfight, hide behind the engine block. Unfortunately, a Tesla doesn’t have an engine block to hide behind, making officers more vulnerable in dangerous situations.
This is yet another reason why California’s rush to ban all gas-powered cars by 2035 is doomed to fail. The good intentions of the global warming doomsayers keep running into the reality that EVs are just not practical cars.
