The Model PD saves police departments thousands of dollars per year
Edward Pennington Calderhead
When it comes to police vehicles, performance, reliability, and durability are non-negotiable. Recognizing the need for a more modern, sustainable solution, Model PD has converted Tesla's Model Y into fully equipped, robust police cruisers.
According to Zack Wilson, a spokesperson for the company, they considered other electric vehicle manufacturers. Still, Tesla was the clear winner, stating, "The reason we're sticking with Tesla is that from what we've seen, Tesla is the only company that can meet the demand." Not only that. But the Model Y is the safest car on the planet.
Modifications Made
The Model Y police cruiser sees a host of changes that elevate it from a sleek consumer vehicle to a reliable law enforcement workhorse. The typical glass roof has been replaced with a carbon fiber one, providing the strength required to house police lights and dome lights. Durability is a crucial factor here, with the interior upholstery being swapped out for a more resistant material to withstand the rigors of police work, including the wear and tear from handcuffs and guns.
A keyboard has been added to the bottom of the screen, and with one press of a button, the display will switch from the Tesla screen to a Windows interface for police officers to access law enforcement information.
To ensure the safe and secure transport of suspects, the back seats have been converted to a vinyl surface, complete with a plexiglass enclosure. In an interesting shift, the standard Tesla wheels have been replaced with traditional police steel wheels, topped off with Goodyear police-rated tires.
Outperforming the Competition
Compared to a traditional police vehicle such as the Ford Police Interceptor Utility, the Model PD's Tesla Model Y-based cruiser presents some compelling advantages. The Model PD boasts an impressive 131/117 MPG equivalent in city/highway driving, compared to Ford's 23/24 MPG. Additionally, it delivers a powerful 384 horsepower and 375 lb-ft of torque, outshining Ford's 285 horsepower and 322 lb-ft of torque.
The Tesla-based cruiser also offers significant savings in terms of operational costs. Based on 20,000 miles per year, the Model PD's estimated annual electric cost is just $605, compared to a whopping $5,085 for fuel in the Ford. Furthermore, the estimated yearly maintenance cost for the Model PD is a modest $350, starkly contrasting the Ford's $1,300.
The Future of Policing with Tesla
Model PD plans to expand its portfolio by converting Tesla Cybertruck into a police vehicle. If the Model PD's transformation of Model Y is anything to go by, the Cybertruck could revolutionize policing in terms of resilience, functionality, and sustainability.
The Model PD's transformation of the Tesla Model Y into a fully equipped police cruiser embodies a significant stride in the evolution of law enforcement vehicles. With its impressive performance stats, cost-efficiency, and commitment to sustainability, the Model PD shows that Tesla is not just meeting the demand - it's shaping the future of policing.
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As of January 13th, Tesla has added even more manufacturers that will soon be capable of charging at Tesla’s Superchargers. Six manufacturers already have access to Tesla’s Superchargers in North America, with a handful of more on the way.
Today, Ford, Rivian, General Motors (GM), Volvo, Polestar, and Nissan all have access to Tesla’s Superchargers with the 3rd party vehicle access option in the Tesla App. All those vehicle owners have to do is select a stall in the Tesla app and tap the “Release Magic Dock” button.
Coming Soon
Tesla has added seven new manufacturers to its Coming Soon section for Supercharger Access. While not everyone loves Tesla, everyone loves the reliability and speed of Tesla’s Superchargers. There’s no doubt many owners are looking forward to being able to access these select Superchargers. Since these locations include Magic Docks, which include a NACS to CCS adapter, the driver doesn’t need to have their own adapter.
These are the seven manufacturers that will soon receive access, according to Tesla.
BMW
Genesis
Hyundai
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR)
Kia
Lucid
Mercedes-Benz
That will bring Tesla’s list of associated manufacturers with Supercharger Access in North America to 13 - bringing most of the major vehicle manufacturers online.
The last few remaining stalwarts are Honda, Toyota, and Volkswagen - of whom Volkswagen is in a rather interesting position. Volkswagen runs Electrify America and Electrify Canada - and the Electrify charging brand has built a reputation for EVs being unable to charge, or being inefficient or difficult to work with.
On the flip side, they’ve partnered with Rivian to build their future electric vehicles - and they could potentially bring the Volkswagen brands, including Scout - to Superchargers sometime in the future. Let’s hope that the last few standouts take the leap to adopting NACS and joining the Supercharger network. After all, a better charging experience is better for EV ownership and adoption, thereby accelerating Tesla’s mission of electrifying the planet.
Let’s take a peek at the new update and all the new features.
Navigation Improvements
One of the new features is the ability to choose how your vehicle chooses a route. If you have “online routing” enabled, then your vehicle’s routing is determined remotely, which lets it take more things into account. However, we now have alternate routes; the driver has limited control over how the route is chosen.
This update introduces new options on how the route is determined, giving the user more control.
Fastest Time - This option appears to be the current default, likely similar to how the vehicle picks a route today.
Least Congestion - This option appears to select routes that have minimal traffic congestion, thereby making your drive that much easier and safer - even if it's a longer route. It's a good use of Tesla’s integration with live traffic data.
Lowest Tolls - This is an interesting option. It doesn’t avoid tolls like the pre-existing option but finds the route that’s the fastest and has the lowest tolls. That’ll be an interesting option for people where toll routes have a big impact on travel times.
While it doesn’t appear that this brings the long-awaited avoid highways feature, it does give users a lot more control over the route the vehicle takes. While Teslas in China use Baidu maps with exciting features, these changes are to Tesla’s backend, so we expect these features to arrive in other regions as well.
Service Area Functions
As part of navigation improvements, approaching a highway service area in China will now automatically open an on-screen prompt, directing you to restaurants, convenience stores, and charging facilities within the service area. It’ll even point out big-name restaurants.
We’d love to see something similar to this in Europe and North America, especially as you pull up to a Supercharger at a rest area.
For those who prefer a little less in-your-face advertising of local businesses, this option can be disabled in Vehicle Options > Navigation > Service Areas.
It’s not clear whether this option will be available outside of China in the future.
The Service Area pop-up from Tesla China.
Not a Tesla App
Other Features
This is the big holiday update for China to celebrate the Chinese New Year. While the update includes some additional new features that we haven’t seen, the rest of it looks to be China-exclusive games, apps and other holiday update features we’ve already received.
The three exclusive games are from Tencent - Happy Landlord, Happy Mahjong, and Throw Eggs, and will be region-restricted to Chinese vehicles.
This update also adds Actually Smart Summon for vehicles equipped with EAP or FSD.
The final one is a bit interesting - Supercharger Bollards. Certain Superchargers in China have ground posts or bollards that automatically raise or lower. These locks prevent non-charging vehicles from parking in the Supercharger spots. Unfortunately for users, it meant you had to open the Tesla app to lower a specific bollard before being able to park to charge your vehicle. However, with this update you can now unlock the bollard from inside the vehicle - the button to unlock the bollard will pop up automatically as you’re navigating to the Supercharger.
We’re hoping the Service Area functions and Navigation improvements make their way to other markets in some capacity, so keep your fingers crossed for a North American or European version of this update soon.
![Video Reveals the Cybertruck's Unique User Interface [Video]](https://www.notateslaapp.com/images/news/2023/cybertruck-ui-1_300w.jpg)
