BROOKHAVEN, Ga. — A metro Atlanta city is already in the process of testing the feasibility of having an electric car on the police force. And if all goes as planned, it may be the first step to going all electric.
Brookhaven announced in late March that it had purchased a used 2015 Tesla Model S. The city has since made modifications necessary to use it as a police cruiser. Since then, the city has already begun the process of putting the car through its paces to see if it can rise to the challenges a police car may face.
According to MotorTrend.com, two areas where this car should perform extremely well are gas mileage and horsepower. The Model S for that year gets the equivalent of 94 miles per gallon city and 97 miles per gallon highway. It also has an equivalent of 380 horsepower.
“The Tesla Model S only had 22,000 miles on it, comes with a 100,000 mile/eight-year warranty, and we got it at a reasonable $45,000, saving taxpayer dollars by using confiscated funds,” said Brookhaven City Manager Christian Sigman. “I don’t know of any other city this side of the Mississippi that is testing an electric vehicle platform for patrol vehicles."
Sigman added that other cities have electric cars for city plans, code enforcement, and other officials. But he said that Brookhaven would be the first to use one for patrol operations.
Brookhaven is also partnering with Georgia Power with the company analyzing current city vehicle data and comparing with similar electric car models to see which are potential replacements for cars in the city's gas-powered fleet.
And that's important because, if the inaugural Tesla performs well under the Georgia Public Safety Training Center testing, the city could replace every vehicle with electric cars.
The car is just the latest move by the city as part of the Sustainable Brookhaven initiative. The city is also adding more electric car charging stations and is planning a new public safety building that could be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified.
“From the beginning, while the public safety building was just on the drawing boards, plans to incorporate environmental sustainability elements to the project were front and center,” said Public Works Director Hari Karikaran. “We chose the location based on the protection of Peachtree Creek and the associated Greenway. Site development will protect and restore the surrounding habitat and expansion of the tree canopy.”
As for the newest part of this sustainability plan, the new Tesla patrol car has already made at least one public appearance - at the annual Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival.