The LAPD Is About To Seriously Upgrade Its Squad Cars

In case you were wondering, the Los Angeles Police Department swapping out its current fleet of squad cars with Teslas is the epitome of #SoLA.

According to Popular Mechanics, the LAPD is currently testing the Tesla Model S P85D as a potential candidate for its new "high-pursuit" police cruisers. If this isn't the most LA news ever, I'm not really sure what is.

The LAPD now has two $100,000 Teslas in its possession as it continues to monitor how possible it may be to integrate these fully-electric vehicles into the department's existing fleet.

I totally see why the LAPD would want to drive Tesla Model S P85Ds instead of those boring Ford Interceptors.

After all, this thing can hit 0-60 in just 2.8 seconds, thanks to its handy-dandy "Ludicrous Mode" feature. It also has a top speed of 155 mph, which can be manipulated to hit 200 mph using software configuration.

Not to mention it's an absolute beauty to look at:

In a recent interview with CNBC, LAPD Police Administrator Vartan Yegiyan said,

Tesla definitely stepped up and gave us the Model S to do some evaluation with them. Tesla is working with the agency to assess the vehicle's performance in our environment and to learn what are the drawbacks and positives of this type of vehicle in our fleet operation. Not only on the regular transportation side, but also the future in the high-pursuit-rated vehicle arena.

If the department does decide to introduce more of these badass Teslas to the fleet, it won't do so for at least the next 3 to 5 years. But why? Well, these things are expensive.

Yegiyan went on to reveal that the LAPD already spends nearly $30 million per year on purchasing over 600 vehicles that aren't shiny new P85Ds.

That leaves us wondering what Tesla's contract with the department will look like when the time comes.