The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has added a Tesla Model S P85D and a BMW i3 to its fleet of police cars as part of the city's wider goal to promote electric vehicles and hybrid plug-ins.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, LA City Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that the vehicles have been loaned to the LAPD by Tesla and BMW to help the police department conduct research and testing on the viability of these vehicles to support the needs of law enforcement.
While both vehicles donning their cute, futuristic designs may not exactly instill fear in the hearts of criminals during a car chase, both cars have proven their advantages in certain situations. The BMW i3, for instance, is great for patrolling the inner city roads of LA as it is particularly fast when taking tight turns and can go a decent 0 to 30 mph in 3.5 seconds. Moreover, at $42,500 apiece, it is a good-priced vehicle for a city car.
Meanwhile, the Tesla Model S P85D, is much more expensive at $105,000 for the lowest configuration, and for that price, the LAPD gets a car that can blast off from 0 to 60 in just 3.1 seconds, putting it up there with the elite breed of supercars that undoubtedly do not offer the same gas savings as the Model S.
Both cars are simply the crown jewels in the 288-strong addition to the city's entire fleet of vehicles. Aside from the Model S and the BMW i3, which were pictured parked outside the LAPD building during Garcetti's press conference, the city has also added 160 battery electric vehicles that will be leased jointly by the LAPD, fire and general services department and the Department of Water and Power (DWP). Another 128 plug-in hybrids will go to the DWP and General Services Department.
The move is part of a greater push by Garcetti to promote the use of electric and plug-in hybrids in the city as the state of California finds ways to minimize its carbon emissions while coping with widespread drought. By 2017, Garcetti hopes to have at least 50 percent of the city's light-duty fleet to be electric or hybrid plug-ins. That number is expected to grow to 80 percent by 2025.
"Our goal is to one day go from gas-powered to battery electric in our squad cars," Garcetti says. "And if we do that, the impact could be national in scale. LA could once again lead the way to help transform not just our department, but other departments and cities around the country."
Currently, the LAPD has three electric motorcycles and 23 electric scooters used for patrolling the city's streets.
