By Greg Friese
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Model PD, a Tesla Model Y upfitted for the demands of law enforcement use, was the subject of a new episode of Munro Live, a YouTube channel with more than 425,000 subscribers.
Model PD President Zak Wilson who has been in the police car upfitting business for 20 years, described the demand for a police electric patrol car and the features that convert a Tesla Model Y into a Model PD.
“We could see it coming that EV was going to be a push in municipalities, especially in police departments,” Wilson said.
Wilson detailed what it takes to convert a Model Y to a Model PD, including:
- Goodyear steel wheels.
- Solid carbon fiber roof, instead of a glass roof, for mounting lights, cameras and antennas.
- Additional dome lights for interior lighting.
- Emergency LED lighting integrated into headlights and taillights, rather than mounted on the car’s exterior.
- Police computer connected to the Tesla driving screen and a secondary dash display with vehicle operation data.
- Storage space for communications and tactical equipment.
- Passenger partition, push bumper and police communications console.
“(The Model PD) has slightly less interior space than the Ford Intercept Utility, but it’s just that it’s configured differently,” Wilson said.
Wilson expects to offer departments additional features, like ballistic door panels and firewalls, because there isn’t an engine in the front of the vehicle. Model PD is also anticipating converting the Tesla Cybertruck into a police vehicle.
Munro Live features Sandy Munro and other engineers from Munro & Associates, an engineering consulting firm and a leader in reverse engineering, costing and teardown benchmarking.
