Teslas: - Cramped space (it seems that Teslas are not designed for big or fat people, nor for being long hours using the center console; both valid complaints). - Slow charging (so officers didn't receive the training needed to be able to search for fast chargers instead of slow chargers. That's not an EV problem. That's a police training problem. People should be trained to use the tools they need to perform their jobs before using them, policemen included). - Several software issues (that's something that Tesla should work harder to get in place for police cars; so a valid complaint). - A lot shorter range than advertised (I'm assuming that power consumption during the long hours that the vehicle is "stopped but used" is partly to do with that, otherwise other Tesla users would also complain about those huge range differences).
Ford F150: - Slow charging (again: police training issue, to put it lightly). - Low range, especially in cold weather (valid complaint, current EVs don't have enough range for that usage, and Ford is probably using old NMC batteries instead of LFP; better batteries are already on their way, especially in when solid-state batteries start being sold). - No fast charging at police stations (seems like a temporary logistics problem to me, not an EV problem per se).
All in all, most of it seems solvable (get a bigger EV, train your policemen to use fast charging, get EVs with larger batteries), or that it should get better with time (software customizations, better batteries will come as quickly as 2025, so it's no longer a "it's always 2 years from now" situation).
I don't see it as a bad outcome IMO.
What worries me the most is the lack of training part. Maybe two-fold: why weren't they informed of the existence of slow and fast charging stations... and why do they need the training to be informed of the existence of slow and fast charging stations. Normal people don't seem to need that training. Are US policemen lacking training and as intellectually challenged as shown on movies?
Three police departments have reported mixed feelings about their adoption of electric vehicles for use as police vehicles. The Ford and Tesla EVs had different levels of suitability due to their body designs. The noted drawbacks can help police departments avoid buying less-suited EVs for police work.
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