Quicker and cheaper: Police departments add Tesla Model Y EVs to fleet

Last year, the Tesla Model Y became the best-selling car in the world with sales exceeding 1.23 million cars globally. With its popularity growing amongst families, its credentials as a reliable EV choice are starting to broaden to other more specialised segments.

A police department in California has become the latest to take deliveries of Model Ys – six in its case – which are modified by Unplugged Performance which specialises in tuning and modification of Tesla vehicles.

Upon receiving these, the Anaheim police department was spotted taking photos at Santiago Oaks Regional Park. This was captured and shared by roketman117 on Reddit.

These cars were painted in black and white police colours with police lights fitted to the roofs of the vehicles.

Another addition is a custom black front bull bar and special black wheels, helping these patrol cars stand apart from other Model Ys in California.

One local complimented the choice of patrol vehicles and joked about the lower cost of running EVs as patrol cars: “Very nice, I like these, hopefully the traffic tickets will be cheaper now because of the gas savings. Anaheim PD passing the savings down to us!”.

Unplugged Performance, which provides high-end tuning and custom performance parts for Tesla vehicles, has set up a new division called UP FIT that makes “next-gen fleet vehicles” and offers turnkey EV solutions to authorities. 

According to the company, under the Tesla fleet vehicles program, UP FIT team “design, engineer and manufacture turnkey Tesla fleet vehicles”.

These vehicles are designed after receiving feedback from hundreds of specialised agencies in the US. From there, they are purpose-built for each agency, delivering safer, faster zero-emission police fleet vehicles.

On top of this, the cost savings are significant when operating these vehicles in a fleet setting. Annual savings of up to $US15,000 per car can be achieved.

The availability of these custom-built vehicles also happens to be industry-leading. According to UP FIT team, the Model Ys they deliver comes with the “fastest order to vehicle delivery time of any Police Vehicle”.

As a comparison, UP FIT states that an ICE Ford Police Interceptor utility vehicle can take between 10-24 months to be delivered to Police modification companies. 

Meanwhile, the Model Ys are available now, making it an easier choice for many authorities that value specialised vehicle availability and lower ongoing running costs.

It’s good to see the Model Y being recognised as more than a passenger car. With applications broadening in the US, it’s only a matter of time before authorities in other parts of the world catch on and see EVs as a practical solution for themselves.