Tesla Builds Model 3 Police Car for the UK to Test

The Tesla Model 3 is the United Kingdom’s (UK’s) most popular electric vehicle (EV), and in a recent update, the company has produced a police patrol car for the country.

Tesla UK has shared images of a Model 3 decked out as a UK police car, which the company said would be able to be used for emergency services across the region following a series of trials, according to Auto Express.

This Long Range Model 3 AWD has 360 miles of range and can go from 0-60mph in 4.2 seconds. Tesla says the Model 3 has a 5-star rating from the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP). The vehicle will save emergency services money due to the low maintenance costs versus gas cars, on top of gas savings.

The UK government is shooting for an end to new gas car sales and a shift to EVs by 2030, spurring the country’s law enforcement on towards going electric.

While a number of United States police departments have adopted EVs, and more specifically Tesla’s EVs, the concept is a rather new one to the UK – hence the need to run trials for the new Model 3 cruiser.

In 2020, Gloucester Constabulary added a total of 75 EVs to its fleet, but none of the cars have been used as emergency response vehicles. On a similar note, London’s Metro Police owns a small fleet of BMW i3s for patrolling the streets, alongside 11 Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.