Bargersville, Indiana has 16 police officers and a population of about 10,000. It also has 13 Tesla patrol cars. The numbers behind them are hard to argue with.

In June 2024, the department spent $300 charging its entire Tesla fleet for the month. A neighboring agency spent $3,100 fueling just four Ford cruisers over the same period. Over five years, Bargersville says it has saved more than $500,000 in fuel and maintenance costs combined.

The maintenance piece matters just as much as the fuel. Bargersville has never replaced the brakes on a single Tesla in its fleet. Electric vehicles use regenerative braking, which means the brake pads barely wear down during normal patrol use. The department traded in its original 2019 Tesla Model 3 and still got $17,500 for it. Gas-powered cruisers rarely hold that kind of resale value after years of 24/7 patrol duty.

The experiment started small. In 2019, Bargersville bought one Model 3 to test. By 2024, the fleet had grown to 13 vehicles. Other small Indiana departments, including Daleville, have started buying Teslas after seeing the results.

There are real limitations. Tesla doesn't make a factory police package, so every vehicle needs aftermarket upfitting from a company called UP.FIT, which adds cost and complexity. Officers in some departments have reported ergonomic issues getting in and out with full duty gear. And range anxiety is a factor: a Fremont, California officer nearly ran out of battery mid-pursuit in a Tesla Model S.

But for a department Bargersville's size, the math is straightforward. A fully equipped Ford Police Interceptor Utility costs $70,000 to $100,000 and burns through roughly 838 gallons of fuel per year. The Tesla costs less to buy, less to fuel, and less to maintain.

The bigger picture: the 2026 Chevy Blazer EV PPV is now the first pursuit-rated, factory-built electric police vehicle on the market. It puts out 498 horsepower, charges 71 miles of range in 10 minutes, and starts around $49,000. South Pasadena, California already deployed 20 Teslas as the nation's first all-electric police fleet. The NYPD has over 625 plug-in EVs as part of a $420 million fleet electrification push.

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