Police in California are experiencing what happens when good intentions crash into reality. Police departments are transitioning to battery powered vehicles but those vehicles come with challenges that make cops’ jobs more difficult.

California is all in on an electric future, planning to ban the sale of gas and diesel powered cars starting in 2035. To get ready for this brave new world some police departments started with buying a few Teslas. These departments immediately ran into serious problems using the vehicles as cruisers, such as a lack of charging infrastructure, inadequate interior space, expensive and lengthy retrofitting processes, interference from advanced driver safety assistance systems and more.

But there is an obvious option here: Don’t use a Tesla. The Fort Bragg Police Department told SFGate using a F-150 Lightning as a patrol vehicle makes a lot more sense.

“Tesla isn’t the right answer in the law enforcement market currently for electric adoption,” Police Department Chief Neil Cervenka told SFGate. “But there might be better options.”

  • @AA5B
    5•1 month ago

    My town’s police department has its own fuel pumps. Maybe they mean their departments haven’t installed chargers yet? If so, that’s not an ev problem but a department provlem