Southern California city unveils all-Tesla police fleet

LOS ANGELES — In South Pasadena, new police cars are patrolling to reduce crime and cutting emissions at the same time.

The South Pasadena Police Department on Monday unveiled what the city says is the first all-electric police fleet in the country, sporting 10 Tesla Model Ys for patrol and 10 Model 3s for detectives and administrators.

The city will pay $1.85 million overall for the electrified fleet, officials said in a news release. More than half of the project’s cost are covered by multiple partners that have agreed to build city-managed electric vehicle chargers.

“This transition reflects the city’s vision of a sustainable future, based on both sound fiscal management and environmental stewardship,” Mayor Evelyn Zneimer said in the release. “We will have a 21st Century police force that is safe, clean and saves taxpayer dollars.”

The new zero-emission police vehicles will save the city more than $400,000 in gas and maintenance costs over 10 years, according to the Electrify South Pasadena website.

A comparison of fuel costs listed $4,355 a year for a gas-powered Ford patrol vehicle versus $336 a year to charge a Tesla Model Y, according to a September 2022 staff report.

The fluctuating cost of gas could affect the city’s savings, South Pasadena Police Sgt. Tony Abdalla said. A projected savings of $312,282 over 10 years was calculated using September 2022 gas prices, which were $5.27 a gallon in California, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Gas prices have fallen since then, down to $4.47 a gallon this month.

The fuel savings are not the only advantage to the zero-emission vehicles.

The 2022 report presenting the plan to the City Council cited “significant maintenance and reliability issues” associated with the gasoline-powered fleet.

One gas-powered police vehicle overheated during a pursuit. Another was out of service due to a blown head gasket. Yet another had electrical and brake issues. Two had air conditioning problems, one with a note that the vehicle’s A/C was “insufficient” for the K9 assigned to it.

South Pasadena police had been considering for years whether to replace the fleet of 22 vehicles, six of which were out of commission. “We were looking for a creative solution,” Abdalla said.

The department looked to the 35 other police departments in the country that had added electric vehicles to see if going all electric was possible. No other agency, however, had transitioned the whole force, according to the city.

The new vehicles require a new infrastructure, which led to the construction of 34 Level 2 electric vehicle chargers at South Pasadena City Hall, funded by the Charge Ready program from Southern California Edison. An additional Level 3 charger, which can fully charge an electric vehicle in about an hour, will also be installed in the Police Department parking lot.

The city is also expected to benefit from the revenue generated by 14 public-facing EV chargers at City Hall plus Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits from the state’s Air Resources Board, which could translate to thousands of dollars a month.

A backup solar and battery storage system that was provided by the Clean Power Alliance’s Power Ready Program protects the department from running out of power during electricity outages and grid failures.

The project expects to reduce 1,850 metric tons of smog-creating carbon dioxide by 2030, greatly surpassing the city’s current plan for the Police Department to reduce 23 metric tons by 2030.

The move to the Tesla fleet reduces 10% of the city’s overall emission cuts needed to meet the state’s 2030 climate action plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 1990 levels statewide.

City Councilmember Michael Cacciotti may be the strongest advocate for the clean-air alternatives.

The inspiration for the plan had its start two decades ago, Cacciotti said, after he read studies about the harm of air pollution and decided to trade in his sports car, asking car dealers, “What’s the cleanest car you have available?”

Cacciotti, who is also the vice chair of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, said he bought a Toyota Prius that is still running strong after 20 years and 188,000 miles. It recently needed its very first change of brakes and rotors — a testament to how little maintenance hybrid and electric cars require, he said.

Protecting public health, Cacciotti said, was a driving factor for the change. Police cars idle while officers write tickets at traffic stops or respond to emergency calls. During that time, gas-powered cars release emissions that affect the health of children and elders and worsen the climate crisis. “We can’t ignore these things,” he said.

Now that the infrastructure for electric city vehicles is in place, Cacciotti said, he is looking into replacing the city’s firetrucks with zero-emission versions in the next few years.

South Pasadena is not the first to turn to zero-emission vehicles. The city of Irvine recently added a Cybertruck to its fleet, though it won’t be used on patrol, and Anaheim added Teslas in a pilot program in April.

Meanwhile, tune-ups, oil changes and spark plug replacements are now things of the past at the South Pasadena Police Department. Lower long-term maintenance costs are part of the savings plan.

In preparing the project over the last four years, Abdalla said, city officials had to reconsider crashes involving police cars.

The Tesla Model Y and Model 3 are among the safest vehicles on the market, boasting the highest rating possible from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

“We reached this decision because we wanted the safest and most capable vehicle for the job,” the South Pasadena Police Department wrote in an X post.

The department’s announcement earned a handshake emoji from Tesla’s North American X account.

But Tesla’s safety features, such as lane assistance and emergency stopping, might work against patrol officers when they are chasing a suspect and must navigate through traffic at high speeds or perform a maneuver to bump a fleeing car, forcing it to spin out or stop.

For maneuvers that involve bumping fleeing cars, Abdalla said, it’s hard to test because it would require crashing a car. Lane assistance can be turned off in the Tesla’s settings, and the department has run into no issues since testing the first police Tesla last December.

Abdalla said he is optimistic that the experiment will be a success.

“It’s been years of work,” he said, “and it’s exciting to see it come to fruition.”