California city rolls out all-electric police fleet, first in US

A California city officially ditched gas-powered police cars and made the switch to a fully electric fleet for its police department.

South Pasadena, located northeast of Los Angeles, on Monday rolled out the South Pasadena Police Department’s (SPPD) all-electric fleet consisting of 20 Teslas, including 10 Model Ys and 10 Model 3s, according to a press release.

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By transitioning to only Tesla police vehicles, the SPPD "became the nation’s first law enforcement agency to completely replace its gas-powered vehicles with non-polluting electric vehicles," the city said.

The city said the switch to Tesla police vehicles should bring both energy and maintenance cost savings. For energy specifically, the EVs should result in annual savings of roughly $4,000 per vehicle, according to South Pasadena.

It also said the EV police vehicles will environmentally benefit its city of 25,000 people, noting gas-powered police cars are "particularly high emitters" of pollution due to how often they tend to stand idle during the course of duty.

"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 a statement.

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The city pegged the net costs of the all-electric fleet project at $1.85 million, including the "cost of the EV chargers and lease payments" to Enterprise Fleet Management, the company South Pasadena worked with to obtain the 20 vehicles.

To help power the new fleet, South Pasadena already set up 34 chargers outside its city hall. It is also adding a "solar powered system with battery storage" there, as well as at the police and fire stations, for backup, the city said.

More than 50% of the project’s costs are "being met by the City’s project partners," the city said.

The all-electric fleet has been in the works for quite some time. South Pasadena conducted research for several years before getting the go-head from the city council to pursue the initiative, the SPPD said on its website.

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Last year, SPPD EV Project Transition Lead Sgt. Tony Abdalla said the cost savings "are undeniable and being able to bring Tesla’s entire suite of crash and safety systems to bear on officer safety is an added benefit above and beyond the economics of operating and maintaining this modern EV fleet."

South Pasadena is deploying its Model Ys for patrol and its Model 3s for detective and administrative work.

Both types of vehicles were "up-fitted" by Unplugged Performance.

FOX Business' Louis Casiano contributed to this report