On the surface, the City of Lathrop purchasing a Tesla Model 3 for use by what was then Lathrop Police Services seemed like it could have been the first step towards a fleet of performance electric vehicles for patrol use – saving the city money on fuel and maintenance.
And given the Silicon Valley darling’s footprint in Lathrop – with a manufacturing facility, a massive warehouse, and several other buildings owned by the company – it would have been fitting for the city to be one of the first to make the jump to a carbon-free footprint.
But the devil, it seems, is in the details.
While this week the City of South Pasadena announced it was using a $500,000 grant from the Air Resources Control Board to retool its entire police fleet for Tesla electric vehicles – a combination of Model 3s and Model Ys that will be used for regular patrol – it’s unlikely that Lathrop will be quick to follow suit.
According to Lathrop City Manager Steve Salvatore, Lathrop does have a Tesla Model 3 that is used by the Lathrop Police Department, but it isn’t currently in use for patrol operations because of the way that the Tesla is configured.
It’s very difficult, Salvatore said, to equip the vehicle with the external power source needed to operate all of the equipment that a patrol car needs to be effective in the field.
The reason why the jump to an all-Tesla fleet isn’t likely is clearly spelled out on the company’s website stating that using the vehicle as a “stationary battery” – which it would become when setup to operate the always-on computer system that is standard in most patrol cars – voids the vehicle’s warranty.
That would require the installation of an external power source, which would make the outfitting of the vehicle prohibitively more expensive and likely offset the maintenance savings that the use of the vehicles would bring.
But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have a practical use for the city.
Cities like Fremont – which houses the original Tesla manufacturing plant which replaced the old New United Motors joint manufacturing facility built by General Motors and Toyota – have switched some of their police vehicles to Teslas, but South Pasadena is the believed to be the first to switch their entire police fleet to the popular electric car.
Lathrop began the discussions about potentially purchasing a Tesla for police use back in 2019 – using a $20,000 grant from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to offset the cost and make it feasible – and went ahead and made the purchase although the vehicle was never deployed for daily patrol operations.
The Lathrop Police Department – under the direction of the City of Lathrop – still use the vehicle today.
The city also has another Model 3 that it uses as a general fleet vehicle that was purchased using the same grant.
To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
