Although the Tesla ended up costing about $14,000 more than a gas-powered car, city officials say it will save them thousands of dollars more annually in reduced maintenance and increased longevity. It is the first electric police vehicle in Atlantic Canada. “Tesla is expected to save at least $5,000 a year, every year it’s in operation,” said Bridgewater Mayor David Mitchell. “And we expect it will actually run about two years longer than its natural gas equivalent just because of the reduced maintenance.” Mitchell says they bought the Tesla Model 3 police car for $72,207 and it’s been on the road since July.
Charging is much cheaper than charging
Chief Scott Feener says his force has already seen benefits from using the first electric vehicle. “What it costs us monthly right now to charge is basically what we spend in three days on fuel in a gas car,” Feener said. “It’s actually performing better than we expected. I can tell you that with all the emergency gear electronics in it, it’ll go a few shifts, basically, before it needs to be recharged.” Feener says the vehicle’s main purpose right now is traffic enforcement, and it often involves the police car having to sit idle for hours at a time. Now, thanks to the electric car, not only do they not use fuel idling, but they also help the environment. Bridgewater City Council has approved the purchase of a Tesla 3 for its police department. They hope to add more electric vehicles to the police fleet. (Town of Bridgewater) Mitchell says people are beginning to embrace the idea of seeing the Tesla police vehicle in their neighborhoods, but some people have had their doubts. “There’s a lot of education that needs to be done across Canada in terms of electric vehicles. People don’t really understand, I think, how far these can go,” Mitchell said. “We’ve had a whole range of comments, including those who say, well, since electricity and water don’t mix, how is the electric car going to work in the rain?” Mitchell says that while there are few mechanics in town who can work on Teslas, he doesn’t foresee that being a problem anytime soon. “There are no fluids in the vehicle, no oil changes, no transmission fluids. The brakes are replaced much less often because it has regenerative braking.” He says Tesla can fix any software issues remotely. To stay in line with the federal government’s goal of requiring 100 percent of car and passenger truck sales to be zero-emissions by 2035, Mitchell says they plan to eventually replace all of their gas-powered police cars with electric ones. “We’re piloting Tesla and that doesn’t mean our next EV purchase will be a Tesla. It’s actually more likely it will be from a local manufacturer, but we just wanted to test it as we move toward electrifying our fleets.”
