A Tesla police patrol vehicle almost ran out of power during a pursuit in San Francisco but the area police department said it still has faith in a pilot program using electric patrol cars.
Fremont police officer Jesse Hartman was driving a Tesla Model S while pursuing a Toyota Avalon driver wanted for a felony when the electric vehicle warned him that it had only six miles of battery life left.
The officer was concerned that he would be unable to continue his pursuit. He radioed dispatch.
“I lit him up and he is not yielding. We are in pursuit,” Hartman radioed, according to Broadcastify audio obtained by ABC News.
The chase was called off “due to public safety concerns” and Hartman had no other option but to find a charging station so he could make it back to the city.
The Tesla was not recharged after the shift before Hartman’s, so the battery level was lower than it would have normally been, according to Geneva Bosques, Fremont police department spokeswoman.
“This one instance does not in any way change our feeling regarding the performance of the vehicle for patrol purposes,” Bosques told CNBC.
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