quote:

Originally posted by DougE:
Might work around here since all the officers have take home cars, but I have issues with that as well. Why not have enough cruisers needed for patrol, and you take your own damn car to and from work like the rest of us?

For many departments depending upon size take home cruisers can be an overall cost saving measure. Where you live falls under that category however the same cannot be said for a dept. the size of NYC in no way would it be cost effective.

Take home cruisers can be cost saving because a vehicles service life is usually more than doubled compared to a hot seated cruiser and based upon department size a department is not buying twice as many cruisers to outfit all their officers compared to having the minimum to function the department. It is used as part of the officers benefit package (I know LOTS of non police folks who have take home company vehicles).
It allows shifts to overlap putting more officers on the street at a time compared shifts having to share vehicles.
Lots of places folks are on call and need to be able to respond at anytime with all their gear available. In the event I have to shop my vehicle and get a pool car it takes me about 15 minutes to swap all my gear from vehicle to vehicle. Do that twice a day 30 minutes add in a 20 minute roll call.
Take home fleet EVs would not be a good idea either. The department would have to pay for a charger at the officers house and then provide an allowance for their electric bill.
I don’t think an EV fleet is a good idea at all for many many reasons.

Your neighboring PD has a number of Tesla Model 3 cruisers that they launched last year. Not kept up with how that is actually going.

Didn’t LA buy a bunch of those hideous i3 electric cars a few years ago? I seem to remember that adventure didn’t work out so well for the LAPD.

quote:

Tesla Model 3 cruisers that they launched last year. Not kept up with how that is actually going.

All of the other issues aside, the Tesla police cruiser does appear to be a formidable pursuit vehicle. Not only is it fast, but it's also very quiet allowing your brass to share videos like this. Recording quality is pretty impressive without the engine noise in the background if you're a singer.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
Now it's not just bean counters making the decisions, it's feel good social justice bean counters making decisions. It's gotten from bad to worse.

Stupid, just stupid shit from idiots who don't work the actual jobs.

If they installed some Tesla V3 chargers at the precinct they could charge them in about 15-20 minutes and have them back on the road for the next shift.

Outside that with a 60 amp breaker it would probably take 4-5 hours to top it off after a shift.

How many miles would one typically drive in a shift?

Huh, I figured they had already been using electric vehicles for years...

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:

...Not only is it fast, but it's also very quiet allowing your brass to share videos like this...

I kept dozing off watching that video. Did they ever catch the Mustang driver?

In case anyone was interested in the song he was singing

Out with the Crow - The Haunted Windchimes

Im sure that somewhere around 1900 salty old coppers were complaining that those dad gum "autocars" would never replace the horse. 80 years later they were saying that autoloaders would never replace revolvers. Technology advances, stumbles and advances more.

Personally, I'm waiting for the hovercars from "Blade Runner" and "The Fifth Element"

quote:

Originally posted by myrottiety:
If they installed some Tesla V3 chargers at the precinct they could charge them in about 15-20 minutes and have them back on the road for the next shift.

Outside that with a 60 amp breaker it would probably take 4-5 hours to top it off after a shift.

How many miles would one typically drive in a shift?

Thinking that one through, each precinct would need a bank of rapid-chargers and some batteries. This would of course require some serious re-wiring of the grid, the power lines feeding into the area and the precinct building itself. The patrol vehicles really don't travel very far, however sitting around running the radios, heater/AC and lights will drawdown the charge over the course of a shift.

I can see NYPD needing their own AAA service to come out and give a boosted charge to vehicles that have run out.

Next question does NYC actually purchase the longer-lasting, rapid-chargers or, after they've actually done the calculations on what this entire idea will cost, they'll go cheap on the chargers?

A) In parts of Manhattan/maybe Brooklyn, I suspect it makes sense.

B) They honestly probably do need more in the way of electric bikes/horses.

Two in a car usually I believe, if they have a car. "New York city" means a lot of things and places that are very different.

Dumb none the less, even to use a few of them.

quote:

Originally posted by myrottiety:
How many miles would one typically drive in a shift?

Read my post above. It's not all about the number of miles driven in a shift. PD vehicles have very unpredictable demands placed on them which could render an EV next to worthless before a shift ends where the officer in the IC car just fuels up and moves on.

To actually patrol my beat: 80 to 100 miles per shift. And from time to time, my patrol car would have to sit at a crash site for 2 hours or more with all the warning lights going full blast.
How will that effect my battery life? In 20 degree weather?

Richard Hammond battery swap, video starts at 3:00 battery swap then ensues...

Or go nuclear..



@Black I notice the Tesla officer went to great pains to not get his car tapped in the turn around.

Another forum member here has offered to bet pink slips on a race between his Tesla and my ride. I agreed, with the condition that I set the distance of the race.... He backed out.

So I just listened to the NYPD deputy commissioner over their fleet give a presentation today on electric police vehicles.

Very down to earth guy. Started as a motorcycle mechanic and worked his way up to an electrical engineering degree plus a masters and his current position after 35+ years.

He didn’t bullshit. None of the available options are ready to be police cars. Zero are pursuit rated. They just bought a bunch of the Mustangs to start getting some real data. Most they’ve ever spent on vehicles.

He said it’s coming, and he’s trying to help shape it so whatever “it” is, actually works when it really transitions.

Also heard from the Michigan State Police vehicle testing guys. Very similar…they’ve not been given really anything electric to test yet though.

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:
He said it’s coming, and he’s trying to help shape it so whatever “it” is, actually works when it really transitions.

I can respect that. I've been in similar positions before, where something is getting rammed through that you know will suck, but at least you're in a position to help shape some parts of it to make it suck as little as possible.

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:

He didn’t bullshit. None of the available options are ready to be police cars. Zero are pursuit rated. They just bought a bunch of the Mustangs to start getting some real data. Most they’ve ever spent on vehicles.

He said it’s coming, and he’s trying to help shape it so whatever “it” is, actually works when it really transitions.

In the game of policy-by-politics, that's the smart play.

Those guys know the technology and feasibility isn't there but, they'll play ball, kick it around for awhile, build-up whatever necessary evidence/data/info they need. Then when the time comes for the next phase, they can pull out their findings and tell all the muckity-mucks to hold their horses, here's the issues....and what it'll cost.