The town of Bargersville, Indiana’s experiment with Tesla police vehicles seems to be quite successful. As per recent reports, the town is saving money thanks to its fleet of Tesla police vehicles, which are incredibly cheap to run and maintain.
As noted in a Police 1 report, Bargersville Police Chief Todd Bertram was tasked five years ago to cut costs in his department so the town could hire two more police officers. At the time, the Bargersville Police Department’s biggest expenses outside officer salaries were the maintenance and fuel expenses of its police cruisers.
The Police Chief then explored options to lower the town’s expenses for its police fleet. Bertram’s idea was to switch the town’s combustion-powered police fleet to all-electric vehicles. “That’s how it got started. I took the savings to (the town council), and they let me hire the two cops,” the Police Chief noted.
Bertram’s idea worked, and since then, the town has added a dozen more Tesla Model 3 police cars to its fleet. The Model 3 is Tesla’s most affordable vehicle, so the purchase costs of the vehicles themselves are not too high. And when it comes to maintenance and fuel costs, they are far more reasonable.
As per the Police Chief, Bargersville is saving over $80,000 annually in fuel costs with its Tesla fleet. All 13 Tesla Model 3 police cars also just cost about $400 per month to charge.
Bargersville’s savings with its Tesla fleet appears to have inspired other towns to consider electric vehicles for their police fleet. These include the town of Daleville, which reportedly reached out to Bertram about how a transition to electric vehicles would be like in terms of savings and other considerations. Daleville is expected to receive its first Tesla Model 3 police cruiser this year.
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