• LAPD is testing a Tesla Model S police car
    82 replies, posted
[t]http://imgkk.com/i/9_g9.jpg[/t] [url]http://la.curbed.com/archives/2015/09/lapd_tesla.php[/url] [quote]Los Angeles is going electric! Mayor Eric Garcetti announced at a press conference today that, with the new lease of more than 250 electric and hybrid cars, Los Angeles now has the largest city-owned fleet of pure battery electric vehicles in America—he city has added 160 battery electric vehicles and 128 plug-in hybrids to it's fleet reports The Verge. ... But the big winner seems to be the LAPD. The police department is being loaned a Tesla Model S P85D (retail price: $120,000) and a BMWi (Retail price: $43,000) for "testing and research by LAPD technical experts to determine how this technology can support their future needs."[/quote] get yer cocks out fp
Whoa, cool. Running out of juice would just be as incompetent as running out of gas so that shouldn't be an issue.
It would be interesting seeing how it can handle a long high speed chase.
[QUOTE=~Kiwi~v2;48666381]at that point it will probably just be on it's fuel powered engine and not the electrical one, i'd imagine the electrical one would just run until it hits a certain speed or load, really smart thou and it would be great to see more of these tesla cars come out to the real world[/QUOTE] U wot, Tesla cars are fully electric
You realise a Tesla is fully electric, right? It doesn't have a ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) aka "fuel powered engine".
Can the electric engine handle the stresses required of a police car? Idling for long periods of time, being turned on and off frequently, going from idle to high speed and back to idle? That's what I'd be most concerned about. And that price, jeez. That's like 4 times what it costs to buy a standard police car.
I'm more concerned of the maintenance cost of them. Police departments get cheap cars because maintenance is cheap on them.
That looks nice as a cruiser imo
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;48666604]Can the electric engine handle the stresses required of a police car? Idling for long periods of time, being turned on and off frequently, going from idle to high speed and back to idle? That's what I'd be most concerned about. And that price, jeez. That's like 4 times what it costs to buy a standard police car.[/QUOTE] Electric cars handle those things superior to normal ICE cars. There are no moving parts besides the wheels, and most of it is computer controlled. For example, there is no 'idle' for an electric car, as the motors are simply off when the car isn't moving.
The entire theory behind electric motor throttle control is that they are constantly switched on and off, shouldn't be an issue
[QUOTE=KillerJaguar;48666631]I'm more concerned of the maintenance cost of them. Police departments get cheap cars because maintenance is cheap on them.[/QUOTE] There's basically no rusting parts on a model s. So that's definitely a factor for long lasting vehicles.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;48666604]Can the electric engine handle the stresses required of a police car? Idling for long periods of time, being turned on and off frequently, going from idle to high speed and back to idle?[/quote] In an electric motor, "idling" is also referred to as "off". It doesn't have to continuously run, it only runs when it needs to. Almost as if you were to install a system in your vehicle that turned your engine on and off based on whether or not you were idling or moving. Being turned on and off frequently doesn't bother motors, either, unless they have brushes (which are not present in the motors in a Tesla, they're fully induction-actuated). Electric motors are surprisingly powerful and robust machines. On top of that, the Tesla is engineered like a fuckin' tank, made out of aerospace-grade materials in many places, and it has the highest crash safety rating of any vehicle on the market (officially the highest is 5.0, but the Tesla performed so well it received an "honorary" score of more than 5.0). [quote]That's what I'd be most concerned about. And that price, jeez. That's like 4 times what it costs to buy a standard police car.[/QUOTE] The cost is mostly due to the batteries. Batteries are expensive, yo.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;48666604]Can the electric engine handle the stresses required of a police car? Idling for long periods of time, being turned on and off frequently, going from idle to high speed and back to idle? That's what I'd be most concerned about. And that price, jeez. That's like 4 times what it costs to buy a standard police car.[/QUOTE] Uh... electric motors don't idle, nor turn on and off. They are at full stop when the car isn't going anywhere, and spinup or stop isn't wearing them significantly more continuous operation. It's better than normal combustion engine at all the things you just named. [editline]12th September 2015[/editline] Logistics and usability and durability wise, electric motors are fucking godsend miracle compared to combustion ones.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;48666703]Uh... electric engines don't idle, nor turn on and off. They are at full stop when the car isn't going anywhere, and spinup or stop isn't wearing them any more than normal operation. It's better than normal combustion engine at all the things you just named. [editline]12th September 2015[/editline] Logistics and usability and durability wise, electric engines are fucking godsend miracle compared to combustion ones.[/QUOTE] Not necessarily logistics, one of the problems facing electric vehicles is still range and energy usage, plus many electric motors start losing torque at their higher speeds, so they can't go quite as fast as their ICE counter-parts in terms of top-speed (though they'll almost always spank them in acceleration).
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;48666703] Logistics and usability and durability wise, electric engines are fucking godsend miracle compared to combustion ones.[/QUOTE] True but another is the Lithium required for the batteries, lithium is a surprisingly rare metal and as it becomes increasingly more difficult to mine the prices soar, I think I remember reading somewhere that if you were to replace all the worlds cars with electric ones you'd run out of extractable lithium before you finished. Then again %100 adoption was never required, just enough to tip the scales back which probably isn't all that much.
[QUOTE=Zero-Point;48666745]Not necessarily logistics, one of the problems facing electric vehicles is still range and energy usage, plus many electric motors start losing torque at their higher speeds, so they can't go quite as fast as their ICE counter-parts in terms of top-speed (though they'll almost always spank them in acceleration).[/QUOTE] Depends on how you look at it with these logistics. The range is limited, but getting a refuelling station is as simple as getting a box installed on any parking lot next with normal public power grid nearby. It's pretty much ideal for patrol cars that don't have to go hundreds of kilometres in a short timespan, or interceptors that just sit on a spot (where they might as well just be always plugged) until they are called to an operation. And regarding speed, that's what gearboxes are for. Tesla isn't really pushing it for maximal possible performance, if the Police asked for a variant with higher top speed, it probably wouldn't add much cost, instead it would be likely at cost of little bit of legroom on rear seats and stuff like that. [editline]12th September 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=thisguy123;48666764]True but another is the Lithium required for the batteries, lithium is a surprisingly rare metal and as it becomes increasingly more difficult to mine the prices soar, I think I remember reading somewhere that if you were to replace all the worlds cars with electric ones you'd run out of extractable lithium before you finished. Then again 0 adoption was never required, just enough to tip the scales back which probably isn't all that much.[/QUOTE] That is true but thankfully we can recycle Lithium quite efficiently, and also, Lithium is almost certainly not going to be the final cornerstone of our battery technology. Just wait a bit and graphene or something will take over. [editline]12th September 2015[/editline] Also, we won't probably run out of lithium anytime soon. You can literally harvest lithium from seawater, there's ton of it there. It's just going to be somewhat more expensive lithium.
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;48666773] And regarding speed, that's what gearboxes are for. Tesla isn't really pushing it for maximal possible performance, if the Police asked for a variant with higher top speed, it probably wouldn't add much cost, instead it would be likely at cost of little bit of legroom on rear seats and stuff like that.[/QUOTE] Any pursuit at speeds anything near a Model S's top speed would be done by helicopter or simply terminated. It would be far too dangerous. Plus it's LA, top speed on any road is about 3 MPH.
Yeah, with the Tesla's acceleration and tight turning I'd imagine they'd be an excellent choice for a patrol car in an urban environment.
[video=youtube;xQl9OjPFDdc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQl9OjPFDdc[/video] 0:44 Sure will be good for quickly gaining speed.
[QUOTE=Cmx;48666369]It would be interesting seeing how it can handle a long high speed chase.[/QUOTE] All it really has to do is keep up long enough for a helicopter or another regular cruiser to get up with them. A modern police chase isn't running from the cop cars, it's running from the radios, which is essentially impossible in today's world.
Can I rain on the parade a bit? I'm not trying to be a TESLAS SUCK guy, but if tesla has experienced issues (like not being able to complete Laguna Seca under heavy load), how would this be suited as an interceptor? The average police officer IIRC puts 150mi on a regular police car (Crown Vic, Caprice). This is incredibly expensive, and if any are damaged in a police chase or simple police activities, it'll be way more expensive than the new Ford interceptor and regular police duty SUV. Also they bought multiple BMW i3s. Everyone is glossing over that. [editline]12th September 2015[/editline] Don't matter if
Why would the police want a luxury sedan to do their job?
[QUOTE=Banhfunbags;48667137]Why would the police want a luxury sedan to do their job?[/QUOTE] I think its more of a test of the viability of electric vehicles doing patrol rather than using it as a standard. The work this car is going to do us going to be highly controlled. I imagine in the future if you want a Tesla interceptor, the model 3 will be better. (More volume, less price)
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;48666604]Can the electric engine handle the stresses required of a police car? Idling for long periods of time, being turned on and off frequently, going from idle to high speed and back to idle? That's what I'd be most concerned about. And that price, jeez. That's like 4 times what it costs to buy a standard police car.[/QUOTE] Idle? Being turned off and on? u wot m8 It's electric. What you "turn on and off" is the pedals working or not. When the car stands still even when it's on, the engine will sit completely still. It doesn't turn over unless you press the throttle to make it move.
[QUOTE=Banhfunbags;48667137]Why would the police want a luxury sedan to do their job?[/QUOTE] It's quick, powerful, large, safe, and can take and dish out hard hits because of the way it's built. It's like an electric Crown Victoria.
Instead of spending money on education programs, trying to build police/citizen relations, minority relations training, or cutting down on useless unneeded drug busts, let's just spend money on cars that come from a company that's losing FUCKTONS of money. Sounds like LA
[QUOTE=Banhfunbags;48667137]Why would the police want a luxury sedan to do their job?[/QUOTE] The car is part of their workplace. Why would anyone want a nice place to work?
Another issue with the S as an interceptor, it's not designed to have a bull bar. Easy to fix in future designs, but not easy to retrofit given the design of the frame.
That is one hell of an expensive car
That thing looks futuristic as hell with the black and white paintwork and lights [i]du du du duuu duuu, du du du duuuu...[/i]
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