Westport & Wethersfield have first Police EVs in Connecticut! Tesla Model Y & Ford Mach-E Tech Tour. [Video]


On Saturday, May 6 the EV Club of Connecticut held an EV meetup in conjunction with Tesla Owners - Connecticut. An open house of the amazing Hotel Marcel was also held that same day, with quite the array of EVs on display for the public to see, including Westport's new Tesla Model Y. It was recently purchased after the huge monetary savings from their (now 2.5-year-old) Model 3 became very apparent. Officer Charles Sampson kindly gave us quite the exterior and interior tour, sharing many interesting stories along the way.
On Saturday, June 3, Rocky Hill Congregational Church held the Green Expo. Wethersfield Police Officer Zachary Gonzalez put up with my many questions, and provided us with an in-depth tour of his unmarked Ford Mustang Mach-E, and letting viewers know how well-suited EVs are for traffic enforcement: quiet, fast, and efficient.
In this video, I think you'll find the contrast between how each police force is using their EVs to be striking, with a common theme here that each EV is great at performing the task at hand, including saving taxpayers lots of $ on the total cost of ownership, with far less maintenance, and the lower cost of fuel in the form of electrons that is considerably cheaper than gas. The tech inside each EV is covered in depth here as well.
As for the first-of-its-kind Model Y up-fitted for securing prisoners in the back, there were some early adopter pains including a broken glass roof when mastering the process of roof-mounted lights, some challenges with the relocating the ultrasonics, but ultimately things seem to be working quite well for both police departments in the end.
A special thanks is owed to Officer Sampson of Westport, and Officer Gonzalez of Wethersfield, for taking the time to give us this tech tour of their amazing EVs.
- 2022 Tesla Model Y Performance
EPA Fuel Economy - 111 MPGe combined, 0-60 3.5 seconds. - 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E GT Performance
EPA Fuel Economy - 82 MPGe combined, 0-60 3.8 seconds.
Paul Braren, details about the author here, or follow his work here:
- Twitter @paulbraren
- Founder of TinkerTry.com - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more
- TinkerTry.com/EVarticles | TinkerTry.com/EVvideos | Weekly Email | RSS
- Member of EV Club of CT Leadership Team, Manager of @EVClubCT & EVClubCT Channel
- Member of Tesla Owners - Connecticut and Tesla Owners Club New England
See also
-
Rocky Hill Congregational Church Green Expo
June 3 2023 - EV Meetup at Hotel Marcel
May 6 2023
See also at TinkerTry
- Paul Braren's podcast guest appearances
- EV articles at TinkerTry.com/EVs
- EV videos at TinkerTry.com/EVvideos


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- My hometown of Wethersfield Connecticut - settled in 1634 - nestled right between Boston and New York City
Dec 23 2015
FYI, I hope to get time to edit/publish my new, Westport Connecticut Model Y exclusive close-look video soon, detailing the tech inside and the extensive modifications. The result is one impressive police EV!@CtTesla @TOCNewEngland @WPDCT pic.twitter.com/UuoliuIqIz
— Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com🔋🚗 @paulbraren@vmst.io (@paulbraren) May 26, 2023
Westport, Connecticut Police led the way with an EV in 2019, saving $. My hometown of Wethersfield now has 2 @Ford Mustang Mach-E EVs, possibly the 2nd police department statewide to go electric!https://t.co/zbds85UQni@WPDCT @WethersfieldPD @OwenSparks_ @jimfarley98 @mrlevine https://t.co/TpTSsVs3yk pic.twitter.com/kVogJ210es
— Paul Braren, TinkerTry.com🔋🚗 @paulbraren@vmst.io (@paulbraren) February 27, 2023