EVs as police vehicles

[Lou Schneider]

Because of CA's green vehicle mandate several police departments have tried using Tesla EVs as patrol vehicles and say they are "nearly unusable".

'Nearly unusable': Calif. police majorly push back on Tesla cop cars

 

[MikeDudical]

 

[ennonne]

Blazer EV Police Pursuit Vehicle

 

[DonTom]

Because of CA's green vehicle mandate several police departments have tried using Tesla EVs as patrol vehicles and say they are "nearly unusable".

'Nearly unusable': Calif. police majorly push back on Tesla cop cars

They need to make a police version of the EV.

Kawasaki did that with ICE motorcycles, the Police 1000. The City of SF bought a bunch of them and they still had one major problem making them unusable as police bikes as they were sold.

After the police radios were installed, the engine would die when they went to transmit. Every time on the low band (below 50 MHZ). The RF would get into the bike's computer and kill the engine. We did come up with a fix that worked perfectly, but I cannot now remember what was done. But we had to modify the so-called cop bike.

Of course, what is required for the cops would be different than for the normal driver, so I do not find this surprising at all until somebody makes a police model of an EV. And from there, there will probably still need to make some changes to get it right for the cops. I can see all types of problems with the installation of cop stuff in vehicles that were not designed for such--and sometimes even when they are, such as with the cop Kaw 1000.

Edit: I just read the previous message and I see Chevy is working on the cop EV version. I bet by the time they get the bugs out, the cops will never want to go back to ICE vehicles. But that could take a while.

-Don- Verdi, NV

 

[DonTom]

Oh, I forgot to mention the tires on the K-1000 cop bike. They had to be removed and changed. For a rather weird reason. The cops would get flats and not even know and it was considered very dangerous during faster speeds.

Anyway, it took a little time to ket the cop bike as a decent cop bike. So with EVs, I would expect issues. And even when they do, I would expect it to take a little more time to get it right for the various types of police services.

-Don- Verdi, NV

 

[Dusty Traveler]

Please remember the following text:

YES, police cars have come a long way from just being a "C.A.R." The interior is all about protection and communication equipment. The rear end must be able to withstand a 70MPH impact without harming the officer. The doors and glass are all unique, with a cage for the lawbreakers to ride in relative comfort. The fuel range, additional fuel tanks, and everything under the hood is built to last up to 100,000 miles. The tires require 5 to 10 pounds of air for sliding sideways to keep the wheel on special rims, along with heavy-duty radiators and much more.

Electric vehicles are already too heavy for police vehicles, and what if you have to chase someone driving on a beach? They will blow up. This is not a joke, as a police vehicle should be a safe place for both officers and the public, with specially locked doors that cannot be opened from the inside.

All of the above is just the tip of the iceberg, as more is required today. Otherwise, departments and cities may find themselves in a court of law by police unions for putting both the public and officers at risk. Also, police officers do not hold protest marches, sadly.

 

[John From Detroit]

At lest one company that competes in the Police car market has a team of Ham Radio operators They put high power (Up to 1,000 watt or 2,000 PEP watt) radios in their test cars and let the ham-engineers drive them.. .Then work on RFI suppression to the operating system. One of my instructors was one of the test drivers,.

As for EV cop cars.. The Tesla.. It's not the fact it's an EV. From the article it's just flat too small..
Not take a Chevy Tahoe size EV and you have a cop car. A very high performance cop car in fact.
I think that would work. But a Tesla.. Too small.

 

[Tulecreeper]

I'm not sure how a complete fleet of EV cop cars would work. I can't think of anytime an individual vehicle would be able to sit unused long enough to get much of a charge. I know when I worked for the SO's in CA, when I came back at the end of shift my unit sat for maybe 30 minutes before the following shift got in it and used it for the next 8 - 10 hours.

When I worked for F&W I had my own truck that no one but me ever drove.

 

[ex-member]

I'm not sure how a complete fleet of EV cop cars would work. I can't think of anytime an individual vehicle would be able to sit unused long enough to get much of a charge. I know when I worked for the SO's in CA, when I came back at the end of shift my unit sat for maybe 30 minutes before the following shift got in it and used it for the next 8 - 10 hours.

When I worked for F&W I had my own truck that no one but me ever drove.

It would depend on what they would want to do for infrastructure. A typical supercharge is 15 to 20 minutes. That would take you 400 to 500 kilometers in mixed driving. A DC fast charger starts around 12000 bucks and goes up from there.

Talking to a fleet guy who has teslas in their fleet the big challenge was getting people in the habit of plugging them in. If you are parked at the shop it’s plugged in. No excuses. It takes 3 seconds to plug or unplug them. Depending on the application a simple 500 dollar L2 charge unit was all they needed.

 

[ex-member]

I know the Mounties have a few model Y police cars around here. But I think they are a tad small. Having said that they seem to have quite a few in Europe so some forces are making them work.

Here’s one of ours. It has the same acceleration boost package as ours. Thing is a rocket up to about 110 kph then goes back to normal.

 

[gwinger]

May be fine for local departments, but they would need ones for every shift. State Can you imagine the cost of a fleet of cars to cover al shifts?

 

[Chef Duane]

A few years ago my City of Plano, Tx. replaced 30 police vehicles and 6 ambulances with new Chevy Tahoe's (police) and Ford F550's (w/ ambulance conversion). Cost was just over $3 million.

Your tax dollars at work.

 

[ex-member]

May be fine for local departments, but they would need ones for every shift. State Can you imagine the cost of a fleet of cars to cover al shifts?

Why would they need one for each shift?

 

[ex-member]

Recent editions to the west shore Mounties fleet. A Tesla Y, a Mach E and an F150 lightning.

 

[Derby6]

You can’t be out on patrol or on call while charging. Many police have cars per person so it could work charging while they are off duty. But there are risks there as well.

 

[DonTom]

You can’t be out on patrol or on call while charging. Many police have cars per person so it could work charging while they are off duty. But there are risks there as well.

The average cop drives a police vehicle on the job around 75 miles per day in an average ten-hour shift. The average speed is 35 MPH. That will be around 100 miles more than the advertised range on most EVs. Teslas get the best range at 38 MPH, (add 100 miles of range to their estimate, which is at 65 MPH). It will vary a little between different EVs, but city driving always gives a better range in an EV. But just as with ICE, the city range will lower if they accelerate fast a lot.

They will probably need to charge around one time per week. I doubt charging will be any hassle at all. But there are many choices. One long charge per week or several short charges every few days or whatever.

Add juice as needed, when convenient. It's rare to need to "fill up" an EV, or two run them down very low.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[John From Detroit]

May be fine for local departments, but they would need ones for every shift. State Can you imagine the cost of a fleet of cars to cover al shifts?

When I worked for the state we nearly always had more patrol cars than troopers to man them so they would have had recharge time. Only exceptions were special detail (one shift or less) like the Detroit/Windsor Freedom Festival Fireworks night... When the bank robber who thought he had the perfect plan got spotted in the very act by a trooper coming in for the over time shift and called me...
Poor bank robbers... By the time they left the bank there was a helicopter hovering and watching.
(Well they did get away.. all the way to jail)

 

[DonTom]

Poor bank robbers.

Are you familiar with TI's Rat System? I can't find a word about it on the web. Perhaps it's now an outdated system. "RAT" was an acronym, but I forgot what the letters stood for.

Anyway, a bank was robbed in SF around 30 years ago. The robbers left the bank and changed vehicles several times. They took taxis buses, etc., and thought they got away with it. But when they went across the Bay Bridge in their car, parked miles away from the bank, at the end of the bridge a bunch of cops were there waiting for them in a safe place to bust them.

The Rat System was a little transmitter hidden in the bank's cash that the cop cars could track. No mention of the Rat System on the news, they just said the robbers couldn't figure out where all all the cops came from at once. But I knew since I worked for the City of SF at the time.

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[Adventurous Traveler]

Ho Hum.

 

[Tulecreeper]

Are you familiar with TI's Rat System? I can't find a word about it on the web. Perhaps it's now an outdated system. "RAT" was an acronym, but I forgot what the letters stood for.

Anyway, a bank was robbed in SF around 30 years ago. The robbers left the bank and changed vehicles several times. They took taxis buses, etc., and thought they got away with it. But when they went across the Bay Bridge in their car, parked miles away from the bank, at the end of the bridge a bunch of cops were there waiting for them in a safe place to bust them.

The Rat System was a little transmitter hidden in the bank's cash that the cop cars could track. No mention of the Rat System on the news, they just said the robbers couldn't figure out where all all the cops came from at once. But I knew since I worked for the City of SF at the time.

-Don- Auburn, CA

I think RAT stood for Remote Automatic Tracking.