The South Pasadena Police Department is almost completely done changing over its vehicle fleet to Teslas, retrofitted for police service.
“First and foremost, it was an operational decision. And then the cost savings and the sustainability aspect became icing on the cake,” said Sgt. Tony Abdalla, outlining the thought process behind going electric. Abdalla is a detective and is also the department’s fleet manager.
The police fleet includes 20 cars, 10 for administration and 10 for patrol. Tesla Model Ys are used for patrol, while Tesla Model 3s are used by admin. The cars’ range — which can top 300 miles — turned out to be a feature making them workable for the kinds of 12-hour shifts police departments often require. Having easy access to Tesla’s Supercharger network proved to be another benefit, said Abdalla, adding it takes about 15 minutes of charging at a Tesla Supercharger near the police station to put about 200 miles of range on the vehicles.
“That was one of the many reasons that our recommendation was to go with Tesla,” he noted. It also helps that the Tesla Supercharger network is well-developed across the state, when officers are traveling outside the region for training or mutual aid.
The police department is developing its own charging infrastructure, which will provide more economical charging than a Tesla charging station. It has partnered with Standard Fleet, a fleet management provider, and UP.FIT, which is taking the lead in outfitting the Teslas for police service.
A fleet management system like Standard Fleet, which collects vast amounts of data and offers an easy-to-use dashboard to monitor cars and performance, was needed in part to satisfy reporting requirements from the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which provided funding for the project.
“They are really interested in pushing out a lot of open-source data to the program, and the project can be replicated elsewhere,” Abdalla said.
The transition to an all electric fleet began several years ago following three years of “in-depth research,” Abdalla said. The City Council approved the shift in September 2022, and the first order for 10 Model 3s was received in December 2022. The Model Ys arrived in January 2023. UP.FIT then began the eight-month task of retrofitting the vehicles for police use. Eight of the 10 are now in service; the remaining two are custom builds for the K-9 handler and for the watch commander.
The public safety agency is already benefiting from cost savings. The admin vehicles have been in service for about 18 months and have cost about $4,900 a year to recharge at Tesla Supercharger facilities. This compares favorably to past gasoline costs of $14,000 to $15,000 a year. Abdalla said, indicating once the department’s own charging infrastructure is operational, the yearly cost to recharge at Tesla Superchargers could be halved again.
The patrol fleet is approaching $25,000 in charging expense for the year, compared to a $120,000 fuel budget for the vehicles in 2022.
“The price of energy or fuel we found is the main cost-savings driver. Maintenance is also the other one,” said Abdalla, noting the nearly maintenance-free nature of electric vehicles.
The electric bug is taking hold across the fleet sector, said Aaron Schneider, business development director for Ford Pro Charging.
“So, I think what’s really interesting is the scale we’re seeing from our customers. I think it maybe used to be one or two EVs here and there in a fleet. And now we’ve got customers ordering 10, ordering 100, ordering thousands of electric vehicles and putting those into their fleets,” Schneider said in comments on a July 17 panel discussion organized by Ford to discuss development of electric fleets.
Ford Pro, the company’s commercial division, features the Ford Pro Smart Charging Bundle which includes charging infrastructure and charging management software specifically designed to react to fluctuating grid needs in states like California.
Robert Pardo, director of central fleets for the city of Boston, which manages more than 1,200 vehicles including about 60 EVs, also highlighted their low maintenance.
“The downtime has been a lot less than the internal combustion engine,” Pardo said, in comments on the July 17 panel.
Vehicle maintenance is not only costly, Abdalla said — it takes the car out of service, which for a small police force can present challenges.
“For us, the best maintenance is no maintenance,” he said. “Because not only do you have the costs related with the maintenance, but you also have the related downtime.”