South Pasadena Police Department now only drives electric

The South Pasadena Police Department says that it is the only law enforcement agency in the US to replace its entire fleet with electric vehicles. The necessary charging infrastructure was also installed.

All 20 Teslas that now make up the police’s fleet can be charged at the 34 EV chargers installed at South Pasadena City Hall. There is no mention of the chargers’ capacity; the press release only says that “under its Charge Ready program, Southern California Edison upgraded its local distribution system to supply the higher level of power needed to energize the vehicles and installed the underground wiring needed to install the chargers.”

The SPPD announced about a year ago that it was looking to go all-electric. It partnered with Enterprise Fleet Management to purchase the electric cars – 10 Tesla Model Ys as patrol vehicles and 10 Tesla Model 3s for detective and administrative duties.

On its website, the police department explains its switch to all-electric vehicles as follows: “Simply put, the Tesla Model Y we identified as meeting and/or exceeding our needs for patrol operations is safer, out-performs, and costs significantly less to power/fuel & maintain than the gas-powered vehicles we use now.”

The city spent 1.85 million dollars on making the switch to electric vehicles, including the cost of chargers and lease payments. It also expects to save around 4,000 dollars per vehicle per year in maintenance and fuel costs. It also received nearly $500,000 in Clean Transportation Funding from the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC), while the work conducted by Southern California Edison under its Charge Ready programme is worth about 530,000 dollars.

“This transition reflects the city’s vision of a sustainable future based on both sound fiscal management and environmental stewardship,” said South Pasadena Mayor Evelyn Zneimer. “The City Council is fully behind this transition. We will have a 21st Century police force that is safe, clean and saves taxpayer dollars.”

“Switching to these vehicles offers the Police Department the opportunity to acquire a cutting-edge vehicle fleet,” said South Pasadena Police Chief Brian Solinsky. “This initiative not only ensures the safest vehicles for officers and staff but also leads to substantial reductions in both fuel and maintenance costs.”

southpasadenaca.gov