Bargersville PD switching to Tesla instead of Chargers

[two70]

Interesting that a small town is trying this, I didn't take the good people of Bargersville for being on the leading edge of saving the planet by driving electric cars. I, too, am interested in seeing how a Tesla will hold up to heavy LE utilization. At least it looks like they are starting with one and seeing how it works out.

And, for the sakes of the officers involved, I hope Tesla has figured out the car-burning-up-for-no-good-reason problem.

The leading edge of green? No. Lately the powers that be here have been on the leading edge of stupid, though. This is just kind of following the recent trend. I guess the powers that be think that with two new subdivisions already started and 2-3 more in various stages of planning, we are going to become the next Carmel soon.

I would have less of a problem with it if they had simply gone with a Prius and saved several thousand $s instead. Not like they need the performance when they have to either post inordinately low speed limits to begin with or reduce already low ones even farther just to pick up a few speeders anyway.

 

[Route 45]

The funny thing is, if they have a Tesla they are still going to need a charger.

I think that the PD may have been better served with a good hybrid sedan like the Accord or Camry for a general duty police vehicle. The Accord in particular is plenty quick, 0-60 is the same or faster than the V6 Charger. The Hemi Charger would be faster, of course, but at a huge gas mileage penalty that wastes a ton of tax money that is not justified by the actual need. How many high-speed pursuits does Bargersville PD get into on a regular basis?

The Tesla has plenty of range for small town police use, but durability remains to be seen. It might be a cost savings for the town, or it might wind up being a wash or slightly more expensive. I think it's neat that a Tesla is going to be field tested, but find it odd that Bargersville is the town that is going to do it.

As far as choosing a Tesla being "socialism", well...

 

[VUPDblue]

"report taking" and "general duty" police vehicles do not exist. Marked police vehicles must be ready for anything, all the time. IMPD did have a bunch of Volts which were issued to detectives and admin types and they overwhelmingly sucked for myriad reasons. Marked police cars should be reasonably speedy, robust, and easy to maintain/fix. Stuff I do with my CVPI I wouldn't even think about doing in a Tesla. The acceleration is great with the T, but that is only a small fraction of what is needed in a chase. My CVPI is a pig, but it takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. If a T catches up to the bad guy, you gonna try to PIT with it? Hell no. Go over curbs and off--roading it? Hell no. My gut says the T will be fragile and maintenance intensive, which will destroy any fuel savings. If it holds up though, it might be a decent police car for a small town, but even if it does, I do not see much of a market for it in that role.

 

[BiscuitsandGravy]

"report taking" and "general duty" police vehicles do not exist. Marked police vehicles must be ready for anything, all the time. IMPD did have a bunch of Volts which were issued to detectives and admin types and they overwhelmingly sucked for myriad reasons. Marked police cars should be reasonably speedy, robust, and easy to maintain/fix. Stuff I do with my CVPI I wouldn't even think about doing in a Tesla. The acceleration is great with the T, but that is only a small fraction of what is needed in a chase. My CVPI is a pig, but it takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'. If a T catches up to the bad guy, you gonna try to PIT with it? Hell no. Go over curbs and off--roading it? Hell no. My gut says the T will be fragile and maintenance intensive, which will destroy any fuel savings. If it holds up though, it might be a decent police car for a small town, but even if it does, I do not see much of a market for it in that role.

Yep... Sounds like a 'pet project' for someone.

VUPDblue did say CVPI and off-roading. Awesome!

 

[hoosierdoc]

But if you google “Tesla police car” bargersville is all over the place in the news now

 

[HoughMade]

But if you google “Tesla police car” bargersville is all over the place in the news now

 

[jglevyjr]

Let's wait a year and see if Bargersville cops say if Tesla lives up to its hype.

http://insideevs.com/news/368398/video-nico-rosberg-tests-tesla-model-3/

 

[jglevyjr]

Another pro-Tesla video ... again, let's give it a year and see if it's good or really bad ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gS7r9RPtvI

 

[HoughMade]

Can't wait to see the first Tesla Model 3 pit maneuver.

 

[harleymac1]

A young man that works for me told me this was possibly coming. His neighbor, a Bargersville officer, was the spearhead of this project. He asked for the Tesla and, from the story I was given, was told to show in black and white how it was going to save money and it would be considered. I assume that the numbers you see were the results of his research. Time will tell if it saves them the money they think it is going to or not.

 

[frenchiectfd2203]

Aren’t those the ones notorious for bursting into flames?

Job security for firefighters.. you go ahead with those neat Tesla’s... and those costly repair bills and down time.

 

[AtTheMurph]

The numbers listed are complete BS. There is no line item for the tax credit that Tesla receives (tax payer $ the subsidize the purchase price of a Tesla). There is no line for the BS Carbon Offset value (read tax payer subsidy) that Tesla receives.

And $7,125/yr for gas? Let's call that $2.50/gallon at today's price. That's 2,850 gallons of gas. That car get's an easy 20 mpg. Let's round down and make that 50k miles per year driven. In 5 years that car would have 250k miles on it. If that is right (and i doubt it but the LEOs here can answer) the Tesla driven under similar circumstances will never make it that far.

And based on Tesla's replacement part nightmare, when that car needs to be fixed it's going to sit for months waiting for the parts to become available.

 

[HoughMade]

All that time idling.....

 

[hoosierdoc]

No, you get a loaner car from the dealer I heard, repairs will be fine

 

[KMaC]

"Please hold, an officer will be with you shortly."
https://www.autoblog.com/2019/09/04/tesla-owners-locked-out-of-cars-app-outage/

 

[VUPDblue]

The numbers listed are complete BS. There is no line item for the tax credit that Tesla receives (tax payer $ the subsidize the purchase price of a Tesla). There is no line for the BS Carbon Offset value (read tax payer subsidy) that Tesla receives.

And $7,125/yr for gas? Let's call that $2.50/gallon at today's price. That's 2,850 gallons of gas. That car get's an easy 20 mpg. Let's round down and make that 50k miles per year driven. In 5 years that car would have 250k miles on it. If that is right (and i doubt it but the LEOs here can answer) the Tesla driven under similar circumstances will never make it that far.

And based on Tesla's replacement part nightmare, when that car needs to be fixed it's going to sit for months waiting for the parts to become available.

I burn about 10 gallons per work day in my CVPI, and that is if I don't work any overtime. That's just me in my car for one shift. A fleet car that runs all three shifts would burn more than that....obviously. $7100 annually for gas doesn't seem out of line at all.

 

[maxwelhse]

I burn about 10 gallons per work day in my CVPI, and that is if I don't work any overtime. That's just me in my car for one shift. A fleet car that runs all three shifts would burn more than that....obviously. $7100 annually for gas doesn't seem out of line at all.

Out of curiosity, how many miles do you drive in a shift?

Also curious how many miles a HWY patrolman might drive. I bet it's mind boggling.

 

[VUPDblue]

I drive about a hundred miles, give or take.

 

[PistolBob]

A young man that works for me told me this was possibly coming. His neighbor, a Bargersville officer, was the spearhead of this project. He asked for the Tesla and, from the story I was given, was told to show in black and white how it was going to save money and it would be considered. I assume that the numbers you see were the results of his research. Time will tell if it saves them the money they think it is going to or not.

According to an article in the Johnson County Daily Journal, the guy is the police chief of Bargerstucky and he ram rodded the whole deal. BTW he's the only one that gets to drive it, you likely won't see it making traffic stops....maybe chasing a meth lab owner away from the LP gas tanks down at the Co-Op...

 

[maxwelhse]

So the chief wanted a Tesla and got the taxpayers to buy him one... Good racket to be in!