My old agency tested natural gas powered vehicles. The explosion under fire stuff was put to rest quickly. The problem was not top speed but acceleration to top speed. Measured with an hour glass.
The problem I see here is not the technology, but the jurisdictions willing to be testbeds and ID issues and potential solutions...
pat
We had natural gas patrol cars for awhile. They had almost zero trunk space due to the huge tank. Even with the huge tank you were constantly refueling. You probably had 80 to a 100 miles out of the tank. There were two refueling stations. If the west one was down you had to drive east. It burned a lot out of the tank coming back from refueling. We haven’t had them for years.
Just a dog chauffeur that used to hold the dumb end of the leash.
Click-bait title is click bait since as mentioned earlier there were ice cars in the pursuit too.
The problem with all patrol cars, not just electric ones, is that officers can’t eat them if they run out of gas or get a flat tire out on the prairie.
Close but not quite. What many officers don’t realize when they sign on to play this great game of cowboys and indians, is that they are neither cowboy or indian. They volunteer to be the stolen horse that the indian rides to death, eats, and quickly replaces with another stolen horse.Originally Posted by Caballoflaco
Last edited by txdpd; 09-26-2019 at 03:20 PM.
Whether you think you can or you can't, you're probably right.
Every time I scroll by this I think it says the patrol car ran out of justice...
Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk
It takes about 90 seconds to replace a Tesla's depleted battery with a charged one:
Of course your department would need to spend considerable money on that infrastructure, but if you had a fleet of Tesla cruisers it might make sense (especially if your department is charged tiered pricing for electricity with overnight energy being almost free)
Further reinforcing the message that if you just drive recklessly enough, you can get away. Even the SCOTUS is able to call this one: "Scott v. Harris , 550 U. S. 372, 385 (2007) , rejected the possibility that police could eliminate the danger from a vehicle flight by giving up the chase because the perpetrator “might have been just as likely to respond by continuing to drive recklessly as by slowing down and wiping his brow.”
- It's not the odds, it's the stakes.
- If you aren't dry practicing every week, you're not serious.....
- "Tache-Psyche Effect - a polite way of saying 'You suck.' " - GG
Some thoughts on these very good questions. First the only feasible EV at the moment is a Tesla.
1) EVs can accelerate faster, corner harder, and brake faster than an ICE. That may or may not help with pursuit tasks. I sure would not want to chase one as the acceleration is impressive.
2) Cost of purchasing right now is more. Cost of servicing should be lower as there are fewer fluids (oil, trans) to be changed, brakes should last longer due to regen braking, fewer moving parts, and the motors are solid state. Suspension issues should be roughly the same. Negative is that Tesla controls the vehicles via SW updates, including limiting range and speed. I also am not sure how one can retrofit a Tesla with common police patrol equipment as the vehicle is just different. The sensors alone would interfere with the proper installation of lights and bars. Unfortunately I have seen too many cruisers modified from OEM trim by people who had no business doing so, so this may be a wash.
3) As far as I know, no EV is pursuit-rated, but I see nothing that would stop one from being so if Tesla was so inclined. In addition, Teslas try to avoid accidents, so I am not sure how feasible a PIT is.
4) If the EV is a Tesla, new body panels may take a long time to arrive.
5) Time to fuel is longer and there are fewer places to do so. One is a battery limitation and the other is part and parcel of being on the cutting edge of new technology.
6) There is more room for storage due to a trunk and "frunk".
I would also note that Tesla's have an extremely low center of gravity, and can be heavier than an equivalent sized car (although with the weight of most US made sedans, that may not be a huge difference) - key advantages over a regular IC car.
I suspect though, that for best adoption, Tesla would have to go after agency fleet sales with a targeted product that addresses these concerns. Based on the way they are rolling out the Tesla Semi, it is a business model they could do if Musk wanted, but LEO sales might not appeal to the libertarian in him... That is before you get to the fact that outside California, I suspect that decision makers for cop car procurement don't generally skew towards "green" tech.
All that aside, I would have murdered to have a Tesla for about 85% of what I used a govy for when I was stateside.
Now, now, now, they wouldn’t be fleeing if you weren’t trying to chase them. I have a personal no chase policy, we come up with all sorts of convoluted policy that basically restricts me to officer presence because chases are basically deadly force. That and are cars are piles of rolling junk.
This was the relief car I got today. There’s 7 uncapped flares in the mix and 4 more flares in the battery compartment. As dirty as the flares are they’ve been like that for weeks or months. This kind of fuckery is pretty common with pooled vehicles. We can’t get officers to clean up flares, check tire pressure and wear, occasionally clean the inside of the windshield, etc. Managing rechargeable batteries, Has proven to be a completely impossible task.
Whether you think you can or you can't, you're probably right.
Reply With Quote