WHAT MAKES THOSE COP-SPEC TESLAS POLICE-READY?
Some kids grow up wanting to be cops, detectives, or FBI agents so they can solve crimes and serve the public. Others grow up just wanting the cars. We saw "Mad" Max Rockatansky in his Pursuit Special Ford Falcon from Road Warrior and Mad Max. We also saw the Jake and Elwood Blues hopping bridges in their Dodge Monaco and decided that the fun could be had without being in law enforcement. We just wanted the V8 with street suspension and performance brakes.
The latest model to join the ranks of police forces was the Tesla Cybertruck, following a donation of 10 Cybertrucks to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. There were also 400 officers in the area who received special training to operate the electric cop cars. These Cybertrucks look the part, thanks to their sirens and flashing lights, but cop cars also need the performance to engage in the occasional high-speed pursuits. What does the cop-spec Cybertruck bring to the table?
Elon Musk Had Nothing To Do With This
You can imagine that Elon Musk probably loves the sight of the Cybertruck decked out in black and white, but Musk and Tesla had nothing to do with this donation.
The benefactor in this instance would be Ben Horowitz and his wife Felicia Horowitz. Ben is the co-founder of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z. The Horowitzes live in Las Vegas and have a history of making donations to the police department, including a contribution of more than $8 million for Project Blue Sky, the department's plan to implement surveillance drones throughout the area.
The $2.7 million donation has been met with some criticism by those living in Las Vegas. However, Ed Obayashi, a special prosecutor in California, and an expert in police practices in particular, explained that it was not uncommon or illegal for private entities to make generous donations to police departments. According to Obayashi, there wouldn't be any "noticeable advantage or benefits, so to speak, other than the fact that it's a free vehicle, and it saves the taxpayers money to replace equipment."
The Sheriff's Department Seems To Like The New Truck
Clark County Sheriff Kevin McMahill accepted the Cybertruck donation, announcing, "Welcome to the future of policing. Sheriff McMahill stated that "they look a little bit different than the patrol cars that we have out there, but they represent something far bigger than just a police car. They represent innovation, they represent sustainability, and they represent our continued commitment to serve this community with the best tools that we have available, safely, efficiently, and responsibly."
What Makes These Cybertrucks Special?
By all accounts, the police-spec Cybertrucks, built by UP.FIT, seem to be based on standard models, rather than the high-performance Cyberbeasts.
In terms of performance specs, it appears that the Tesla Cybertruck police trucks produce the same numbers as any other Cybertruck. As for special equipment and upgrades, check it out:
- Onboard police equipment includes a ladder, a shield, and a less-than-lethal shotgun
- Custom wrap with Vegas Metro Police logo
- Sirens
- Off-road lightbar
- Push bumper
- Prisoner transport backseat
- Lightweight forged steel wheels
- Steel roofbars
- Upgraded rear sway bar
- Upgraded brakes
- All plastic panels have been replaced with steel, and the hood is carbon fiber
- Custom computer mounts
- Added interior lighting
- Joystick-controlled spotlight
The inclusion of less-than-lethal equipment as part of the donation is worth noting. According to Sheriff McMahill, "We don't have the funds to put low-lethal tools of the magnitude that are going to be in these trucks in every vehicle that we have, so the officers that are driving these trucks are specially trained in being able to utilize all of those weapons in the vehicle for de-escalation purposes."
The Cybertruck Was Plenty Quick To Begin With
The police-spec Cybertrucks, as reported by the Associated Press, have an improved battery capacity compared to the base model's 325-mile range. Exactly how much more range that covers, and whether it makes a difference after factoring in the added weight of extra steel plating and push bumpers, remains a mystery.
The Cybertruck doesn't hit 60 mph any faster than the standard model's four seconds. However, the thing about the Cybertruck is that it's already very impressive in terms of sheer performance. It's ready for high-speed pursuits right out of the box.
The truck has adaptive air suspension, a 60-0 stopping distance of around 126 feet, and a top speed of 113 mph. Four-wheel steering helps it to maneuver through tricky scenarios, and it can go more than 300 miles on a charge. It's a rock solid cop car even without a single modification.
What Will A Tesla Police Vehicle Cost You?
When cop cars are decommissioned and sold to the public, they remove the police branding and the sirens. Also, it goes without saying that you're not getting a free shotgun or riot shield with your purchase. On the other hand, they often leave the push bumpers in place, and you wind up with a cool-looking black-and-white color scheme that they don't offer at the dealer.
With that in mind, you're going to be waiting a while. There's no official age of retirement for police cars, but, in a thread on the r/AskLEO subreddit, an officer going by the handle of u/jetty_life reports that a cop car usually lasts around five years or 120,000 miles. u/spencer0076 reports that his agency's policy is to retire a vehicle at 125,000 miles. Some departments keep their old cars around until the wheels fall off, with u/lava_lamp223 reporting of a 2009 Explorer that the CSI team was still driving in 2020.
These numbers are all anecdotal, but seeing as the policy varies from department to department and from agency to agency, anecdotal examples are pretty much all we have to go on.
Let's Crunch The Numbers
If we visit Cars.com and search for used police vehicles near Las Vegas, the newest models we can find are a handful of 2021 Ford Utility Interceptors. These trucks sold for an original MSRP of $40,845. The average price for the top ten used models comes out to $19,036, meaning that a four-year-old Interceptor should hold about 46.6% of its original value.
Applying that logic to the Vegas Cybertrucks, the donation is estimated to cost somewhere around $80,000 to $115,000. So we should split the difference and multiply it by 46.6%, which gives us the following estimates.
These estimates are based on the assumption that the very soonest you could see the Cybertrucks on the market would be in 2029. As far as we know, the only reason we're seeing 2021 Interceptors for sale is because the Vegas Metro Police had to make some room for the Cybertrucks, and the cops might want to keep their new toys around for a decade or longer.
If you just plain do not like the Cybertruck, whether you think it's butt ugly or too expensive or you'd rather not drive something that leaves a trail of body panels in its wake like bread crumbs, then police-spec Cybertruck probably isn't going to change your mind. Honestly, the idea of buying a decommissioned cop car and not getting a V8 out of the deal sounds kind of silly to begin with.
But UP.FIT really built a super trooper here, and any electric truck fans out there looking for something unique might want to keep an eye out for a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police auction five years down the line.
2025-11-05T08:09:42ZSources: Tesla, Associated Press, Cars.com, r/AskLEO, Unplugged Performance.