South Pasadena California Police To Drive Only Teslas

What could possibly go wrong?

At the tip of the EV adoption spear in the United States has been California, which really should surprise nobody. Depending on your views, that’s either an enviable and revered position for the state or the butt of many jokes. But the news that South Pasadena Police Department will be switching to only Teslas in the near future is blindsiding a lot of people.

Learn how lightweight materials in modern cars might be vulnerable to a common element here.

The announcement was made by Unplugged Performance, which says it’s “the global leader of Tesla performance upgrades.” It’s handling the upfits to SPPD’s Tesla Model Y and Model 3 patrol cars, all 20 of them, which are slated to replace the ICE patrol vehicles later this year.

While we’ve seen some Teslas and a few other EVs added to police departments here and there, South Pasadena is the first to go all-electric for the entire fleet. Surely others will follow suit, although how many and how soon remains to be seen.