Photo shows surprising electric car tipping point in Australia: 'The future is here'
There's more to this police traffic stop than meets the eye – and it will soon become a common sight.
A rare photo showing two Aussie police officers speaking to a Tesla driver after pulling them over in their electric Highway Patrol car has provided a glimpse into the future as more and more police departments around the country investigate transitioning their fleets to go electric. In what could become a common sight, the Queensland Police officers are seen standing at the driver's window, as their canary yellow Kia EV6 GTLine sits idle.
After it was shared on social media with the caption "the future is here", the scene became a talking point for Tesla drivers who questioned whether the Highway Patrol vehicle would undertake high-speed chases and if the siren and the other equipment onboard would drain the battery.
Edwin Higginson, director of EV consulting firm Australian Electric Vehicle Specialists, said EVs were “perfect” for frontline policing. “They have more power, acceleration and torque which is really what we need for a police car,” he told Yahoo News Australia. “They are a lot more stable in weight as the centre of gravity is quite low.”
The Kia EV6 can go from zero to 100km/h in just 3.5 seconds, just slightly behind the Tesla model 3 – which reaches the same speed in 3.1 seconds.
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EVs wouldn't 'get close to running out of range in a shift'
EV uptake is growing in Australia and currently accounts for one in 10 new vehicle sales in the country. So it's no surprise government agencies are joining the trend. In fact, Higginson was previously the head of operations at PrixCar which converted standard cars into police vehicles for NSW and South Australian officers.
Reassuring those who might worry about "range anxiety", he said an EV could easily power through an entire police shift, particularly with high-speed chargers at the station.
"Police cars use a lot of power for running auxiliary equipment such as sirens, light bars, radars, computers and communication devices," Higginson explained.
"However, this is only a small percentage of the electrical capacity stored in an EV, so I couldn’t imagine an electric police car would get close to running out of range on a single shift or before they get the chance to recharge with power."
Aussie police forces transitioning their 'fleets to electric'
While EV police cars are fairly common overseas, they're a relatively new sight in Australia with only a handful in operation across the emergency services including a number of electric fire engines.
Queensland Police Service (QPS) welcomed its first Kia EV in June 2023, which underwent a year-long “proof of concept” trial to evaluate its performance in an “operational policing environment”.
“Over the next few months, a total of five Kia EV6s will be deployed across Queensland to locations strategically chosen to ensure QPS are able to obtain evaluation metrics specific to differing geographic, environmental and operating factors,” a spokesperson told Yahoo News.
A number of Queensland police stations have already been fitted with EV charging infrastructure.
A Victoria Police spokesperson said it took ownership of a Tesla X in 2019, which was used by the State Highway Patrol, and was exploring the “operational impacts” of transitioning its vehicle fleet to go electric.
NSW Police introduced a Hyundai Kona EV in 2021 and has been using a Hyundai Ioniq 6 EV in its Crime Prevention Unit since June. It is currently trialling the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, Kia EV6 GT, Ford Mustang Mach-E GT and BMW's iX and i5 at the Police Driver Training Centre at Goulburn for use in frontline policing.
Meanwhile, Western Australia has a Hyundai Ionic 5 and hydrogen-powered Toyota Mirai. ACT Police said it has no operational EVs but is looking into new vehicle technology for “suitability and capability".
Electric cars 'probably go much faster' in a police chase
Higginson told Yahoo News the Tesla Model S Plaid was the "fastest car on the road" and could go from zero to 100 in 2.1 seconds, meaning EVs were ideally suited to police involved in high-speed chases.
In the comments on the original post, one Tesla owner wrote: "It would be embarrassing if they run out of battery during a pursuit, I can already imagine how the die-hard ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) lovers will go nuts at that on the internet."
Another said: "Who's going to drive over 400km in a shift? A pursuit would be done by multiple cars and a chopper," while a third added: "Probably can go much faster than any vehicle it has to pursue anyway."
One more pointed out that while on the job, police officers stop motorists, investigate crime and fill out paperwork so if they did four hours of driving in a shift, this would equate to 140km at most which would be easily achievable on one charge.
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