A Thai Police Department Is Leasing Seven Tesla Model 3s For $2.7 Million

Teslas are making surprising appearances in commercial fleets around the world. A little while ago we reported that the Tesla Model 3 has been approved for Taxi Cab duty in New York, and more recently Elon Musk announced that driverless taxis would arrive by the end of 2020. What’s more, Teslas are starting to make appearances as police vehicles, and a Thai police department recently leased seven Model 3s, according to an apparently translated invoice that appeared on Blink Drive.

They can been seen in the images here. All of them are decked out in police liveries, and each one comes with a sweet roof-mounted light bar. Even though electric cars might not seem like the best choice in extreme cases—like with long-distance police chases (wait, are those a thing?)—electric vehicles make sense for other, more everyday police activities. The Model 3’s base range of 250 miles should prove adequate for most low-speed city patrols, plus, there’s every chance the cars are quicker than whatever this police department used before.

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The biggest drawback for police departments looking to buy a bunch of Teslas for patrol duty? Cost. A Model 3 ain’t exactly cheap, at least compared to traditional cop cars. For this particular police department, the total cost was even dearer. For the seven cars, the total amount for the leases came out to a staggering 89 million Thai Baht, or $2.7 million at current exchange rates. For reference, a standard Model 3 costs $39,990 before incentives are applied. That means that, at the very most, seven Model 3s would cost the average buyer a little under $280,000—so why did the Thai police department pay more than 10 times as much as Americans would have to just lease them? Local taxes and regulations mean Model 3s are incredibly expensive, even to lease, so here’s hoping the department saves enough fuel to make the Teslas worth it. Because that seems doubtful, we’ll just say, hey, enjoy the Model 3, Thai police!

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