First Tesla Model Y Police Vehicle Delivered In Logan, Ohio (Plus Video)

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Last month, it was announced that the City of Logan in Ohio was the first city in the southeast region of the state to receive Tesla vehicles for its police force.

The vehicles were slated to arrive within two weeks of the announcement and the hope is that the electric vehicles could save the city on vehicle upkeep and gasoline costs. Mayor Greg Fraunfelter added that he’d been in talks with the Southeast Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC) about a charging station for the EVs.

The City of Logan Police Department got their modified-for-duty Tesla a few weeks ago! It's been driving throughout the town, helping to keep the city safer and cleaner! pic.twitter.com/A7ThnaTZX8

— Clean Fuels Ohio (@CleanFuelsOhio) December 2, 2021

Earlier in November, the city council passed Resolution No. 3, 2021, which granted the Logan Police Department three additional police cruisers and authorized the mayor and/or city service to enter into Enterprise Fleet Management Lease agreements.

Jeremy Baldwin, a fleet/asset management consultant with Enterprise Fleet Management, shared some thoughts about this along with stunning photos of the Tesla Model Y police cruisers on his LinkedIn page.

“I am very excited to be part of the team that created the first ever Tesla Model Y fully up-fitted Police Patrol Cruiser. It’s a great partnership between my company, Enterprise Fleet Management, and the City of Logan to develop the Green Initiatives for their fleet of vehicles.

“If you have any questions, let me know!”

In response to Baldwin’s post, Paul Baziuk, Vice President of Sales, CSO, at Cancom Security, shared a photo of a Tesla and noted that his company had seven in their mobile fleet. With several police forces adopting Teslas in their fleets, along with Hertz and other companies adding Teslas to their corporate fleets, it’s clear that many see Tesla as the optimal choice for any type of fleet vehicle, with the exception of the need for buses or large trucks.

A Fun Livestream From The Logan Police Department

Patrolman Gadrim and Lt. Byram from the Logan Police Department have a YouTube channel called Policing For Our Community where they livestream video feeds from inside their cruiser. The video below is from his second day inside the Model Y.

Tesla Model Y Logan Police Livestream

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7ChISNtElI

Commenters in the livestream chat were curious to see if the patrolman enjoyed the new vehicle. He said that he’d driven it less than five miles, so he didn’t know yet. He drives down to a parking lot where the lighting is better and shows off the new Tesla Model Y.

“It actually does look like a real car.”

The police Model Y only has room for one prisoner, and you can see the text “prototype vehicle” on the door. He also pointed out that the car isn’t that little.

“It’s bigger than I thought it was going to be.”

Naturally, viewers wanted to see the Tesla Model Y with all of the lights on, and the patrolman complied, adding that the lights were very bright. One comment from Peter Schwartz was pretty funny:

“​Looks like something from Demolition Man, let’s head to the greatest restaurant in town Taco.”

Next up, he stops to feed a cat that was in the parking lot and then answers more questions in the chat. He drives a bit more, gets a great shot of the happy cat eating its food, and then answers a question as to how the heat works in an EV.

“It’s probably like a hairdryer. Everything in a Tesla works off of this screen. So if you want to change your heat, you come down here to the fan, and then you can tell it which way you want the air to blow.”

As he demonstrates how to use use the Tesla display monitor to change the heat settings, he discovers that he has heated seats.

“I just found I have heated seats! You better turn that off — don’t want that.”

The patrolman also elaborated on what he’s heard from other departments in terms of savings on Tesla police vehicles. He spoke about how this particular Model Y was the first-ever Tesla police car manufactured with full police equipment.

“Believe it or not, this is actually the very first fully equipped Tesla police car in the world. Others have some things that people have rigged up inside of them to be a police car here and there, but this is actual the first fully equipped manufactured Tesla police cruiser.

“The city got a great deal on these cars. Grants were given, other businesses paid for equipment that’s in this car, and with the stats that are coming back from departments using Teslas, they are saving cities approximately $20,000 over the cost over two years.

“So far, the tickets are showing about a $20,000 savings as upkeep, fuel costs, and maintenance and stuff. So that is why the pilot program is going as it is. So we’re trying it. If it works — if it saves us, it saves the city’s taxpayers money, and the car is up for the task — they may do more.

“If at the end of this test phase it doesn’t do well for us, well, then they’ll find a different route. But somebody has to test stuff and that’s just the way the world works.”

In response to the fully equipped part, someone asked what he meant, so he explained. If someone was to go and purchase a Tesla and then they go to buy a cage insert for a regular police cruiser, there are manufacturers who make cages that you can slide into a police vehicle and bolt up. However, there aren’t any for Teslas.

“Everything that is in this car is basically a prototype.

“When you go buy a package for a Tesla, if you buy a cage or if you buy a center console to hold radio equipment, you go to buy the light setups and all this other stuff, it’s been measured from this car. But they’re not offered right now because you can’t buy it because this is still a test.

“The second one’s getting put together right now. They’re making some slight modifications. And when all the bugs get worked out, then they will probably be manufacturing the equipment that’s in this car to sell to other departments around the world.”

The livestream is over three hours long and it’s a pretty interesting video to watch if you have time. The department also has other livestreams, but I think Patrolman Gadrim’s videos will probably be the most popular.

I’m not sure they realize it, but the police department’s YouTube channel is making for some interesting Tesla tutorials for new owners as well as great research for other police departments that may be considering adding a Tesla to their fleets.