California cop forced to call off high-speed chase after Tesla patrol car runs out of battery mid-pursuit
FREMONT, CALIFORNIA: An officer with the Fremont Police Department was forced to back off from a pursuit after the battery of the electric car he was driving ran low in the middle of the chase.
The officer was pursuing a vehicle headed down South Bay when his 2014 Model S 85 Tesla began running out of power, according to KPIX5, with the transcripts of police radio transmissions obtained by the station showing the exchange between him and the department as the situation emerged.
"Just slowed down to six miles of battery on the Tesla, so I may lose it here in a sec," he can be heard saying. "If someone else is able, can they maneuver into the number one spot."
While other units did take over the pursuit, it ultimately had to be called off after it was deemed unsafe because of the reckless driving of the suspect. The suspect's vehicle was later found abandoned in San Jose.
The Fremont Police Department had started using the Tesla Model S 85, which are manufactured at a plant in the city, as part of a pilot program that kicked off earlier this year aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from its 2005 baseline by 2020.
"The Tesla wasn’t fully charged at the beginning of the shift," a spokesperson for the department conceded. "This, unfortunately, happens from time to time even in our vehicles that run on gas, if they aren't refueled at the end of a shift."
Another spokesperson from the department told CNN said the car had, in fact, been at a serviceable amount of charge. "We have no written policy regarding gas or charging, but the general guideline is that it should at least be half full at the beginning of the shift, which this car was," they said.
The spokesperson said they were still just six months into testing the integration of the Tesla with the department and that they are keeping a track of all the data. They also insisted that this incident does not change the way the department feels about the performance of the Tesla for patrol purposes.