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On Tuesday, Aug. 27, the Menlo Park City Council received an update on the Menlo Park Police Department’s Tesla pilot program, which aims to see whether Teslas, or other electric vehicles, could be used as patrol vehicles.
Over the course of the program, police staff found that while “Teslas are useful within the department for patrol and non-patrol operations, (they) do not appear to be the ‘patrol cars of the future,’” due to officer safety concerns, lack of off-roading ability and limited space for gear, personnel and detainees.
In 2021, the City Council voted 3-2 to implement the Tesla patrol car pilot program as part of the city’s effort to be carbon neutral by 2030. As part of the city’s Climate Action Plan, Menlo Park has vowed to eliminate fossil fuel use in all city operations by 2030.
Because Tesla does not manufacture any purpose-built police vehicles, the police department had to outfit and modify the vehicles to be used as patrol vehicles. Modifications included the addition of lights, sirens, plastic seats and specialized seatbelts in the rear of the car, communications equipment, a gun rack, window guards and ballistic door panels.
According to a city staff report on the pilot, at the time that the program was initiated, there were no zero-emission patrol vehicles available direct from a manufacturer.
While purpose-built police vehicles can be upfitted by the manufacturer to include upgrades such as the ballistic door panels, the Teslas had to be sent to an additional outfitter located in southern California, which proved to be more expensive, according to the staff report.
The base price of the Tesla Model Y was $64,270 and upgrades and outfitting cost the city $38,482 per car, which made for a total cost of $102,752 per car. The hybrid Ford Explorers that police otherwise use cost $51,620 for the base price of the car and $21,224 for upgrades and outfitting, for a total cost of $72,844 per car.
Despite concerns over vehicle driving range due to the added weight of the outfitting and ballistic panels, the pilot found that the vehicles had sufficient range at 80% charge to complete all shifts.
Officer safety concerns
According to the staff report, a majority of the challenges that police staff faced were due to the outfitting of the Tesla, and the “smart” features of the car.
Officers reported that their weapon access was restricted by the center console height, that the car’s lights would time out at night, that the cars locked themselves without a key inside and that autopilot would occasionally interfere with the types of driving necessary during the course of police patrol.
Officers relayed in the staff report that “on occasion, the Teslas automatically stop when an officer attempts to pull off to the side of the road to approach vehicles or people.”
Officers also said that they experienced issues with lighting controls, as Tesla does not allow direct access to the lighting system, and they were required to go through a “multi-step touchscreen process” just to dim their lights. According to the staff report, it was also difficult for officers to keep car lights on during traffic stops when they stepped away from their cars.
The smart locking functions of the cars also posed a challenge to officers, as the car would automatically lock when the key was out of range, and automatically lock when the key was in range.
City staff looked into modifying some aspects of these smart features to make the vehicles more appropriate for patrol use, but “the outfitter relayed that they attempted to reach out to Tesla but were not able to access or modify the central operating system,” according to the staff report.
Police department staff provided a list of recommendations that Tesla could address to support patrol use of Tesla vehicles, including a “public safety mode” that disables some autopilot steering corrections, a customizable sleep mode that would keep car lights on and unlimited digital keys for police accounts.
Staff also found that future outfitting of Teslas for police patrol should include a checklist to ensure that voice commands are turned off and that the rear doors do not open from the interior, as well as wider seats and lower consoles to accommodate officers wearing patrol gear.
“I am very proud that we tried the Teslas, and not everything works,” said Council member Betsy Nash. “I appreciate all the work that the police department did with working through all the bumps.”
Despite the space constraints and challenges with outfitting, officers reported that they did appreciate the acceleration, steering and vehicle speed compared to the hybrids and gasoline-only patrol vehicles.
Climate action plan
The Tesla pilot program was implemented as part of the city’s climate action plan, which aims for the city to be carbon neutral by 2030.
When Menlo Park last completed a greenhouse gas inventory for city operations in 2019, emissions from the city’s car fleet contributed nearly half of the city’s overall carbon emissions. Among city departments, the police department generates the most vehicle miles traveled, and within the police department, patrol vehicles specifically generate the most vehicle miles traveled.
According to fleet mileage data gathered from February 2022 to February 2023, police department patrol vehicles accounted for 58% of emissions and 38% of vehicle miles traveled. This made patrol vehicles an easy target for lowering the city’s carbon emissions.
According to the staff report, the Menlo Park Police Department will continue to use the Tesla vehicles that they have already purchased. Staff will also continue to monitor the market for all-electric patrol vehicles as they emerge.
In 2023, the City Council approved the purchase of a Chevrolet Blazer electric vehicle that is rated for police pursuit, and staff are hoping to deploy the Blazer as the next stage of the pilot by early 2025.
“(they) do not appear to be the ‘patrol cars of the future,’” ”
I shocked! Who would have guessed? More save the world stupidity from our council.
With all due respect to all parties involved, most of the cited issues are pretty obvious and should have been seen in advance before hundreds of thousands of dollars were approved. Appears to be another example of certain Council Members prioritizing ideology over pragmatism.
So true. Fire these idiots
*Facepalm*
Model Y’s???
{{Drop and give me a fifty}}
MODEL X Ding-Dongs!
❓Do Astronauts go to space in the model Y???
🅰️: No, ladies!! They go to space, fully loaded with room for fully suited spacemen, in the MODEL X.
Now recalibrate your study and try again.
And get us the name of your advisors, who in the sam hill told you Model Y would support a police dept.?
I could go falcon wing doors upside all y’alls heads for approving this study. All the fails I could contain for you with almost 20cubic feet more room and a prisoner door that can reach or stoop to accommodate any prisoner or SWAT operator.
I’m sure given the success of a valid effort you might even get Elon excited enough with your intelligence that it may be worthy of the light armor upgrade,windows and all.
@1000hp AWD I see no reason you couldn’t haul all the coffee and donuts any guy could ever dream of.
I mean, really do we have to put down our lives to come and do your job for you, too?
Not today Jack.
So how many millions were wasted to figure out this useless info? Teslas r very poorly made
Forget the environment and “going green”. As this technology continues to proliferate the private sector, cops will overlook most of their demands when a Hyundai EV outruns their entire police department during one of their chases.
It won’t outrun a helicopter and when it runs out of juice the police will still be coming with gas powered vehicles that are actually suited to the job.